


A Touch of Miracles - Season 1

by Little_White_Comet_22



Series: A Touch of Miracles - Digimon Adventure AU [1]
Category: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Mild Language, OOC, Violence, Young!Daisuke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-15 05:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 46,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4595142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_White_Comet_22/pseuds/Little_White_Comet_22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arc 1 - Eight children are dragged from their Summer Camp and into the Digital World in order to protect it. With their partner Digimon's help, these Chosen Children fight to free the Digimon from the fear of the Black Gears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Contents

**Season 1**

**Arc 1: Attack of the Black Gears –** Eight children are dragged from their Summer Camp and into the Digital World in order to protect it. With their partner Digimon's help, these Chosen Children fight to free the Digimon from the fear of the Black Gears.  _[13 Episodes]_

**Arc 2: The Dark Network Takeover –** With Devimon defeated a new enemy has appeared threatening to take over the Digital World with his Dark Network. The Chosen Children though are ready as they search around Server for their Virtue Crests.  _[13 Episodes]_

**Arc 3:**   **Bloody Memories –** The dark past of Daisuke is finally revealed as Vamdemon threatens to turn the Human World into a dark hell. With a ninth Chosen Child revealed the group fights to keep not only for their youngest member safety but also their homes.  _[13 Episodes]_

**Arc 4: Taking Back an Apocalyptic World –** Many years have passed in the Digital World since the Chosen Children returned to earth. The Dark Masters rule all but with Ultimate Level in their sights, the Chosen Children are ready to take their world back!  _[14 Episodes]_

**CD Drama: The Whistle –** While Taichi is looking after Daisuke he hears a familiar sound of his sister's whistle, which was left with Gatomon in the Digital World. The Digital World had opened again but why?

**CD Drama:**   **The Child Prodigy –** Daisuke meets a boy called Ken Ichijouji while waiting for Taichi to pick him. The two become close and by the time Taichi arrives Ken has received the name Ken-sempai from the seven-year-old.

**Movie 1: Our War Game –** The warning the Yagami Brother's received last year finally comes to pass when a DigiEgg is formed on the Internet. With everyone scattered though it falls to Taichi, Koushirou and Daisuke to try and get enough fighting power to stop Diablomon before they are whipped out by a nuclear missile.

**CD Drama: The Barrier -** Gennai calls the Chosen Children to Digital World with an idea. The Virtues had once created a barrier to protect the Digital World and keep it on the same Time Stream as the Human World; it was destroyed though by the Dark Masters. Recreating this barrier though would come at a huge sacrifice.

**End of Season 1**


	2. Arc 1: Episode 0 - Digimon Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventure AU! What if Daisuke had been adopted by the Yagami family when he was four years old? What if he was with Taichi on that fateful day at Summer Camp? How different would the adventure have been with a bit of Miracles added to the mix?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are only a few fanfics that add Daisuke to the mix of the Adventure!Chosen Children and none of them have been uploaded in so long, so I thought I would do my own!  
> People do not give Daisuke enough credit and if you ignore his crush on Hikari then you realise he's a very different person.  
> Right things that is different here:  
>  **Ages** \- Both Taichi and Hikari are older than they were when they received their first DigiEgg. Taichi is 8 while Hikari is 6. Daisuke is 4 years old so he's the youngest out of the 3 instead of being the same age as Hikari. As such the incident is a lot closer to when they go to the Digital World than it was in the Canon. It will only be 2 years later so Koromon will she be in their minds.  
>  **Personalities** \- They're a lot different! Daisuke went through something traumatic to end up being adopted by the Yagamis and his personality will continue to change as he grows in the Digital world. Hikari will be a bit more responsible for herself as she's now a big sister, she can't protect Daisuke if she's sick. Taichi though will go the opposite way and it will have major consequences for all 3 of them.  
>  **Storyline** \- It's going to be different I'm just saying that. The main focus isn't going to be Takeru and Hikari near the end now that Miracles has been added. Things are going to be a lot different with new challenges and adventures for the Chosen Children to get through.  
>  **Names** \- I am using the Japanese names as their original names but sometimes the English names will pop up, especially with Taichi and Hikari. Tai and Kari will be the nicknames they have and what they allow close friends to call them. Daisuke will not have his English name but he will have a nickname he prefers to be called.  
> Is that everything cleared up? If it's not then just ask me and I will answer you the best I can. Enjoy guys!  
>  **12/07/15 – Update:** This chapter has been edited. I've changed the Japanese translations to how they should be shown and also edited some sentences that just didn't seem right to me. Japanese Translations have been added at the end.  
>  **25/06/17 - Update** : Recently got a wonderful program called Grammarly and ran through this story with it. It should be a lot easier to read now.  
> 

Yuuko Yagami nervously bit her fingernails as she anxiously waited for the doorbell to ring. Finally, after waiting for so long she was finally going to meet her new baby.

Yuuko had brought up adoption to her husband Susumu after her youngest child, Hikari, had recovered from her phenomena. In her fear, Yuuko had ended up blaming her five-year-old condition on her eight-year-old son Taichi. She even ended up hitting him which she felt horrible for when things calmed down.

She had apologised repeatedly and took back her words but the damage had been done, Taichi took full responsibility for Hikari’s condition and he wasn’t prepared to forgive himself anytime soon.

Before everything, though Yuuko and Susumu were thinking about having another baby, the problem was that both Taichi and Hikari were very sick children when they were born. Both were born too early and both become very sick because of it.

Taichi’s heart had been too weak and he ended up having a transplant at just two years old. To their relief though Taichi worked himself through his sickness and trained his body to become stronger when he joined the soccer team.

Hikari, on the other hand, has a weakened immune system and until her body produces the right antibodies to protect her she will just keep getting sicker and sicker. The phenomena incident was proof of that.

With both kids on heavy medication, neither parent wanted to risk putting another child through what Taichi and Hikari suffer from every day. So adoption was brought up.

It wasn’t until they were sure Hikari was fully recovered did Susumu and Yuuko both finally agree to go through with the adoption.

That was one year ago and finally, a child suitable for them had been found. Yuuko released a nervous sigh as she looked at the clock on the wall nervously just as the doorbell rang loudly through the apartment.

It was time.

Yuuko took a deep breath before she walked towards the front door and opened it with a smile. Her attention was completely captured as soon as she saw him.

“Yagami Yuuki-san?” The Social Worker asked in confirmation and Yuuko forced herself to look at the brunette with a relaxed smile.

“Yes, that’s me. Would you like to come in?”

“I haven’t got time I’m afraid. Everything has already been signed I’m just here to hand him to you.” The lady laughed before the two women looked at the little boy resting on her hip.

He was small for his age with tanned skin and unusual burgundy hair that spiked in all directions. His face was buried into the Social Worker’s shoulder and he was shaking slightly making Yuuko’s heart clench.

“This is Daisuke. He’s a little shy I’m afraid that I’m sure he’ll come out of when he gets to know you.” Yuuko nodded as she took in the boy’s blue dungarees that went down to his knees, the white t-shirt underneath and his small tennis shoes.

What caught her attention most though was the pair of square goggles that rested around his neck and slightly over his shoulder, being too big for him to wear them properly. She smiled as she realised they were similar to the one’s Taichi wore and she wondered if Daisuke was as attached to his as Taichi was.

“Hello there Daisuke-chan. I’m Yagami Yuuko and, if you want, I can be your new ‘Kaa-chan.” Yuuko whispered and waited. It took a couple of seconds before the little one lifted his head revealing a pair of mocha coffee eyes that were filled with weariness and hope.

Yuuko kept still letting Daisuke look into her own chocolate eyes and waited for the four-year-old to come to a decision.

It happened so suddenly that Yuuko wished she had a camera. Slowly Daisuke smiled revealing a mouth full of perfect baby teeth and whispered quietly as he held his hands out for her.

“’Kaa-chan.”

It was that moment Daisuke officially became a Yagami and when Yuuko hugged the boy tightly she was completely unaware of the future taking a different path.

* * *

**5 Months Later**

Taichi groaned as he felt something tugging insistently on his sleeve, he rubbed his face into his pillow briefly before finally pushing himself up. Chocolate brown eyes opened and locked with mocha coffee before Tachi groaned once again.

“Daisuke? What are you doing up?” Taichi mumbled as he recognised his adoptive baby brother sitting on the edge of his bed, his square goggles resting on his neck despite it being night time.

Daisuke stayed silent, which wasn’t unusual for the four-year who was as silent as his sister Hikari, but when he squirmed slightly in place everything clicked.

“You want to go potty?” Taichi asked and sighed when Daisuke nodded while fiddling with his goggles.

“You don’t have to wake me up for that,” Taichi grumbled but he crawled around Daisuke to get to the ladder and after he climbed down himself he helped Daisuke down too.

The Apartment was silent, all the lights were off and as soon as Taichi opened his door the only thing he could hear was the fridge humming in the kitchen. In the room across from him, which used to be the study, Taichi could hear the steady breathing of his sister sleeping peacefully for the first time in the past months.

With Daisuke now added to the family the apartment had to be moved around a bit, Taichi now shared his room with Daisuke while Hikari now had her own room in the former study. It was hard for Hikari to get used to sleeping alone though and often Taichi found his sister sleeping next to him in his bunk.

Both Susumu and Yuuko had explained that it was only temporary until they could find a bigger apartment for them to live in.

“You need help?” Taichi asked as he pushed the bathroom door opened for the small toddler and turned on the light. Daisuke shook his head as he walked inside and helped Taichi push his step ladder closer to the toilet.

“I can do it,” Daisuke whispered so quietly Taichi almost missed it but by now he had gotten used to listening out for Daisuke’s quiet voice. Taichi nodded before he walked out and left the door open slightly, just in case.

It didn’t take long for Daisuke to finish and soon enough he was walking out while whipping his freshly washed hands down his sleeping shirt.

“Let’s get back to bed then,” Taichi said with a yawn and he couldn’t help but smile when Daisuke copied him. He must admit he wasn’t sure what to think when he was told about having a baby brother, but he found himself slowly becoming attached to Daisuke.

As the two turned the corner to their private hallway Taichi spotted his sister standing in front of the computer, which had been relocated in between the two rooms for now. Taichi frowned as he realised the screen was actually on and it kept flashing from strange green symbols to a pure white light.

“Hikari what are you doing? You know Otou-san doesn’t like us playing with the computer.” Taichi lectured as he walked forward and placed his hand on her shoulders. Hikari didn’t react though, she continued to stare at the screen even when Daisuke slipped his small hand into her own.

“Hikari?”

“It’s an egg...” Hikari suddenly pointed out just before the computer gave off a loud beep. Taichi’s eyes widened in shock as realised the shape that had appeared on the screen did look just like an egg.

“Digimon...” Daisuke whispered but before Taichi could even question the little boy the egg on the screen started to come towards them. It seemed to push against the glass before it started to slip through like water.

The Yagami siblings watched in shock and confusion as the egg slowly pushed it way free before landing in at their fit with a loud-

“Taichi!” A groan was heard from the blue and white stripped covers as a dark brown mess of hair appeared from underneath.

“Taichi! I’m just going to the store, I won’t be long. Make sure you look after Daisuke and Hikari!” Yuuko called out as she checked through her purse before she sighed as she realised Taichi still didn’t answer.

“Taichi! Did you hear me?”

“Y-yes ‘Kaa-san _...”_ Taichi finally called back as he forced himself to sit up in his bunk and rub his eyes sleepily. Still half asleep he crawled over to the ladder and started walking down as he heard the front door open.

“Oh...” Yuuko whispered as she suddenly remembered something and looked back inside the apartment. “Make sure you watch Hikari’s fever for me. It’s not that bad but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Wha-?! Fever?!” Taichi yelped as he lost his footing on the last step and almost fell to the floor, experience from doing the same thing every night stopped him from receiving yet another bruise.

“I’ll be back in an hour!”

“Wait ‘Kaa-san _!_ What-?” Taichi called out but his mother didn’t hear him and the front door closed gently behind her causing him to sigh.

“Oof!” Taichi grunted as a small form suddenly slammed into his side and wrapped his arms around his waist tightly.

“Daisuke! Don’t run into to me like, you might end up hurting someone.” Taichi chided but as he placed his hands on the four-year-old’s shoulders he realised he was shaking badly.

“What’s the matter Daisuke? Did you have a nightmare?” Taichi questioned seeing as Daisuke having nightmares was as common occurrence as Hikari waking up with a fever. Yuuko explained to both Taichi and Hikari that what happened to Daisuke’s family was horrifying and even though he was only a baby, one-year-old at the time, it had happened right in front of his eyes.

He’s bound to have nightmares even if he doesn’t remember why he’s having them.

“Daisuke?” Taichi asked again when the burgundy headed child didn’t answer but then Daisuke shook his head from where he was buried in Taichi’s chest. Taichi frowned in confusion as his eyes trailed over to the bottom bunk.

What on earth could have scared him then? If he wasn’t having nightmares then Daisuke usually slept really well, he was always the last one to awaken and it was always very hard for Yuuko to get him up for breakfast.

“Hikari?” Taichi questioned as he spotted his little sister sleeping soundly in the bunk that Daisuke had just left, leaving the eldest Yagami child completely confused, seeing as Hikari only really tolerated Daisuke on an acquaintance level, but then he caught sight of what she was hugging close like a teddy bear.

“An egg...” Taichi whispered before his eyes widened as last night’s events rushed back to him. In his arms, Daisuke looked fearfully over to where Hikari was holding the egg close and whimpered.

* * *

Breakfast was a disaster the moment Taichi walked his younger siblings into the kitchen. He had planned on frying them some eggs and reheating the rice from last night for breakfast, simple but still a good breakfast to keep them up for the day.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan at all. Taichi managed to help Hikari into a chair at the table easily but when he went to take away the egg in her arms she blew her whistle sharply in his ear making her protests known.

Taichi decided that losing his hearing wasn’t worth fighting his sister over an egg and let her be, but then that brought up another problem.

Daisuke refused to go near the egg and every time Taichi tried to get him in his own chair across from Hikari the four-year-old would scream just as shrilly as Hikari’s whistle and clung to Taichi tightly refusing to let go.

That, of course, caused Hikari to sulk because while she did accept that Daisuke was living in her home from now on, she hadn’t exactly accepted him into her family yet. Seeing him cling to her Onii-chan always tickled her the wrong way.

Taichi was now stuck with a clingy four-year-old and a pouting six-year-old, the child sighed in frustration before he decided on cereal for breakfast; seeing as he can’t use the stove with Daisuke clinging to him.

“Put that down so you can eat ‘Kari,” Taichi ordered as he set down a bowl of cereal in front of her sister and quickly rushed back to get Daisuke’s and his own bowl.

“I can eat around it.” Hikari insisted and Taichi decided to let it go, he was glad that at least she had grown out of whistling at everything instead of talking.

“I wonder where it actually came from though. No one is going to believe it come out of the computer.” Taichi shrugged as he lifted Daisuke into his highchair despite the boy’s protests.

“Daisuke you need to eat your breakfast. Now ‘Kari will stay on that side of the table, keeping the egg away from you alright?” Taichi said sternly before he pushed the burgundy boy’s bowl closer to him giving him no choice but to pick up his spoon.

“Why you so scared of it anyway? I don’t think it’s going to hurt you.”

“Yes, it will! Egg bad! Digimon bad!” Daisuke shouted as he slammed the end of his spoon down on the table as tears filled his mocha coffee eyes and Taichi quickly held up his hands in a placid manner.

“Okay okay. Calm down Daisuke, I won’t bring it up anymore alright.” Taichi reassured and after a couple of seconds, Daisuke returned to his cereal.

“Baby.” Hikari scoffed and Taichi couldn’t help but sigh as Daisuke glared at the girl in anger, his cereal quickly turning into a gloppy mess.

“I’m not a baby!”

“Yes, you are! You’re scared of everything; you’re nothing like Onii-chan.” Hikari said cruelly before gasping as she ducked a spoon that was thrown at her head by the four-year-old.

“Daisuke! You don’t throw things, you’ll hurt someone.” Taichi lectured crossly causing Daisuke burst into tears breakfast long forgotten. Taichi quickly though switched his attention to his sister who was looking pretty smug as she hugged the egg close.

“And you, stop teasing him! ‘Kaa-san has already told you off for doing that, don’t think I won’t either.” Taichi warned causing Hikari to pout as he turned his attention to Daisuke.

“Come on now Daisuke stop the tears. I thought you weren’t a baby.”

Hikari huffed as Taichi once again paid attention to Daisuke instead of her, it wasn’t that she wanted to be cruel to the four-year-old but she had Taichi all to herself for six years and suddenly she had to share him? It didn’t make Hikari happy that’s for sure.

Huffing again the six-year-old reached out for her juice not realising she loosened her grip on the egg until she heard the thump of it hitting the floor. Letting out a gasp she looked under the table but only seeing her cat Miko look up at her curiously.

Completely lost Hikari sat up properly her confusion clearly shown on her face until she heard another thump instead coming from behind her this time. Turning around quickly she saw the egg had bumped into the wall and was now rolling down their private hallway.

Quickly Hikari jumped out her chair and rushed after the egg but as she reached out to grab it the egg rolled straight into the boy’s room. With a pout, Hikari quickly rushed after it but her eyes went wide, not even hearing her brother calling out for her.

“Hikari what are you doing?” Taichi called out as he walked into the room with Daisuke clinging to his shirt and the two boys froze as the egg rolled in the middle of the room before standing upright.

“Wha-what? It’s actually alive?” Taichi whispered in shock as cracks started appearing on the surface of the egg. He was completely unaware of Daisuke’s grip on his shirt getting tighter as he stared at the egg in dread. With a small crack, the top of the egg lifted revealing a black fluffy animal with golden eyes.

It was silent in the room as the three siblings stared at the thing before its eyes suddenly narrowed before it growled. Before Taichi couldn’t even shout he found himself being pulled roughly to the floor just as the black thing charged at where his head was and slammed hard into the door.

“Bo-bota!” The animal cried out before it shook itself out and started sliding across the room at an incredible speed. Hikari tried to catch it but instead, it retreated under the bed.

“Hikari stay away from it!” Taichi ordered as the girl crawled until she was halfway under the bed. Taichi quickly got to his feet as he followed his sister’s example, starting to understand why Daisuke was so terrified of the thing.

Taichi’s eyes narrowed as he spotted the black thing pressing itself against the wall with a growl. He really couldn’t get a good look at it though.

“Nii-chan.” Daisuke suddenly called as he crawled under the bed too and handed a small handheld torch to his big brother. Taichi couldn’t help but be proud of him for that, he could see the four-year-old was scared and yet he was willing to ignore his fears just to help him.

“Thanks, Daisuke.” Taichi grinned and quickly turned the light on and allowed it to shine on the thing that was causing all the problems. It was completely black with two bear ears and it looked like it was just a head. It had no body, no arms, and no legs.

It was strange, to put it simply.

Accidently Taichi let the light hit the thing’s golden eyes causing it to cry out slightly before it growled again.

“Bo!” The thing shouted and Taichi cried out as he was thrown backwards by a wave of-

“Bubbles?” Taichi whispered in shock as he saw the rainbow coloured bubbles float around the room before popping. What a strange way to attack someone, it didn’t even hurt. It startled him than anything.

Underneath the bed, Hikari had put her whistle in her mouth. Daisuke had retreated, the attack on Taichi too much for the small toddler, so that left Hikari alone with a thing that was terrified and attacking in accordance to that.

Her whistle was her most prized possession, Taichi had gotten her it when she was very young and it had been the only thing to calm her down when she was sad.

It was also the only thing that truly woke Taichi when he was sleeping.

Taking a deep breath Hikari blew the whistle with ease allowing it to take a familiar ‘pheet’ sound that echoed around the room. Bot, as Hikari was calling it in her in her head, froze for a couple of seconds before it bounced slightly.

“Bot!” It squeaked and Hikari blew her whistle again. It bounced again before Hikari blew her whistle once more. Bot did this a couple more times before suddenly it sprayed a mouth of bubbles.

The two quickly got into a pattern, Hikari would blow her whistle and then Bot would blow the rainbow bubbles at her. This carried on for a couple of minutes before Hikari burst out giggling as the bubbles tickled her skin.

“’Kari...” Taichi whispered in awe as he watched the room slowly fill with bubbles. Daisuke blinked as he watched from where he was kneeling in the middle of the room and when popped on his nose even he couldn’t stop himself from giggling too.

* * *

“What is this thing anyway?” Taichi questioned as he watched Hikari slowly feed it candy bars from the collection the two had saved up over time. The thing had finally calmed down enough to come out from under the bed and Hikari was the one who worked out that the growling noise it was making was actually its stomach.

It was hungry.

“Its ears look like a bear but it’s furry like a cat. Maybe a dog? It came out of an egg though so wouldn’t it be a bird?” Taichi mused to himself as he fiddled with his round goggles that hung around his neck.

Daisuke had seemed to have gotten over his fear of the black thing at least slightly and was now sitting close to Hikari. He wasn’t brave enough to feed it but the fact he had even got this close was an amazing thing.

“It’s a Digimon...” Daisuke suddenly whispered catching his sibling’s attention as the thing seemed to perk up at the name, even going so far to start bouncing up and down in happiness.

“Bo! Bot bot, bo!” It squeaked with its golden eyes closed in a smile and that was as close as a confirmation as Taichi needed.

“How did you know that, Daisuke?” The eight-year-old questioned but Daisuke stayed silent as his eyes darkened slightly. Taichi was quick to recognise the signs of Daisuke remembering something unpleasant and quickly changed the subject.

“What should we call it then?”

“Bot. His name is Bot.” Hikari stated firmly and Taichi sighed as he looked off the side. His little sister had already gotten attached to it.

“You know we can’t keep it right? ‘Kaa-san would have a fit plus you’re about to run out of candy bars meaning you won’t be able to feed it.” Taichi pointed out before he winced as Hikari blew sharply on her whistle.

“You can’t keep using that thing as a way to win arguments!” Taichi growled as Hikari looked challengingly at him with her ruby red eyes, her whistle still held between her lips. Luckily enough though the phone rang giving Taichi a chance to escape before their disagreement could get any worse.

“Yes? Yagami residents.” Taichi said into the phone but his eyes went wide as all he heard was a strange static sound that completely blocked whoever was calling. As he looked at the base of the phone he blinked as all the lights flashed on and off in rapid succession.

“I guess it’s broken.” He whispered to himself before putting down the phone and returning to his room, his eyes still on the phone even as he walked through the door.

“’Tou-san won’t be happy if it’s reall-AH!” Taichi cried out as he finally looked inside the room and saw what had happened. Instead of hugging the familiar black head that was Bot’s shape, Hikari was now hugging a pink head with very long ears and sharp teeth.

“Hikari look out! It changes shape, it’s gotten bigger.” Taichi warned as he spotted Daisuke blinking slightly at the pink head in slight surprise but not in total shock. Hikari blinked as what Taichi said finally sunk in and she finally looked down at Bot who was now able to give her a proper smile.

“He’s not going to be that easy to hide now.” Taichi moaned just before rude noise echoed around the room and was quickly followed by a disgusting smell.

“Oh great.” Taichi groaned as Hikari lifted up her new friend revealing the mess it had just made on their floor. Rolling his eyes Taichi left to go get something to clean it up and maybe get it something to eat.

It’s properly hungry again.

* * *

The sun had started to go down when Taichi heard a key entering the lock before the front door was pushed open. Quickly Taichi pushed his door shut and leant against it, not wanting his mother to find out about the Digimon just yet.

“I’m home! I’m sorry I took so long kids but everything was just so busy and then the cafe wanted me to substitute another waitress who had called in sick. They insisted it would only be a couple of hours but I ended up doing the whole shift.” Yuuko sighed as she slipped out of shoes before walking into the kitchen and placing her bags on the counter.

She clicked her tongue as she saw three bowls full of ruined cereal sitting on the table and quickly got to work on cleaning them up while putting away the shopping.

“Are you hungry kids? You didn’t eat your breakfast and dinner will take a little while so you can have a snack if you want!”

“We’re alright ‘Kaa-san _!_ We’ll eat when dinner is ready!” Taichi called back as he continued to lean against the door, waiting for his mother to start work in the kitchen before he finally relaxed against the wood.

“What’s ‘dinner’?” Taichi’s eyes went wide as he heard an unfamiliar voice coming from where Daisuke and Hikari were sitting near the window.

“Well it’s the time that we eat out meals, it’s called dinner time.”

“Meals? Do you mean food? Can I have some too? Please?”

“If you want.”

By now Taichi had pushed himself off the door was walking over to the pair. Hikari was carefully holding the Digimon’s side as she crouched down while Daisuke was actually sitting on the floor staring at it.

“Onii-san Koromon is hungry,” Hikari said as she looked up and Taichi swallowed hard as he looked down at the pink head on the floor.

“Koromon? Did you give it another name ‘Kari?”Taichi laughed nervously before Hikari shook her head.

“Koromon is my name. I’m Koromon.” The Digimon said cheerfully and Taichi couldn’t stop himself from falling to his knees in shock.

“It can...talk...”

“I’m Hikari. Hi-ka-ri.” The ruby-eyed girl repeated her name more slowly so the Digimon would pronounce it properly before she looked over at Daisuke.

“This is my Otōto and my Onii-chan, Daisuke and Taichi. Dai-su-ke and Tai-chi.” Hikari said and Taichi blinked in shock as she heard her introduce Daisuke as her Otōto. She had never done that before, she usually just says ‘this is Daisuke’.

“Hikari, Daisuke and Taichi,” Koromon repeated perfectly and Hikari giggled before smiling proudly at the Digimon.

“Well done.” She praised as Daisuke crawled forward so he was sitting right next to her. The burgundy haired toddler was biting his lip as he stared at Koromon before he held out his hand towards the Digimon.

It was shaking badly but both Hikari and Taichi stayed silent knowing that this was the only way Daisuke would conquer his strange fear of Digimon. By now his hand was hovering over Koromon’s head but tears were now filling his eyes.

Daisuke was so scared and he couldn’t remember very clearly why he was scared. Taichi wasn’t scared of Koromon, neither was Hikari so why should he?

“I won’t hurt you Daisuke.” Koromon suddenly said causing Daisuke to jump slightly as Koromon looked at him with a gentle but honest smile.

“I promise not to hurt you, I don’t hurt my friends. I protect them.” Koromon swore causing Daisuke to sniff hard before he allowed his hand to rest gently on Koromon’s head and scratched behind his long ears, causing him to purr.

* * *

It didn’t take long for the sky to turn dark and soon Yuuko was serving up the curry she cooked with a smile. She must admit she knew she wasn’t the greatest cook in the world, especially when she experimented, but a simple curry she could handle and her kids loved it.

“Kids dinner time!” Yuuko called out as she set up the table and started pouring out some glasses of milk. The door to the boys’ room opened and Yuuko looked up only to blink in slight shock.

Because instead of Taichi holding Daisuke’s hand while Hikari tries to put as much distance between them as she could, today Hikari was holding Daisuke’s hand as she talked happily to him about a game they must have been playing together.

As her youngest started sitting at the table Yuuko quickly took the chance to hug Taichi tightly causing the eight-year-old to stiffen slightly in shock.

“’Kaa-san _?_ What’s the matter?”

“Nothing Taichi. Nothing. I’m just so happy to see the three of you finally getting along together at last.” She whispered with a smile before she allowed him to go free and join his siblings at the table to eat their dinner.

She watched them with tears in her eyes as Hikari managed to make Daisuke laugh, and watching as both younger ones ganged up on Taichi causing him to pout but that just made them laugh harder.

Daisuke had joined her family five months ago but for the first time, Yuuko finally felt like her family was complete.

* * *

Later that night Hikari groaned as she felt someone insistently shaking her shoulder, whoever it was they were persistent and after a couple of seconds, Hikari finally forced her eyes to open.

“Daisuke? What’s the matter?” Hikari demanded in irritation. If she had released the four-year-old would wake her up instead of her brother she would have slept in her own room but she really didn’t want to be separated from Koromon.

So her mother pulled out a futon and let her sleep on the floor of her brothers’ room and Koromon ended up curling up to sleep with Daisuke.

“Koromon sick! You gotta help him Onee-chan!” Daisuke begged as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to his bunk. Hikari’s eyes widened in shock as she spotted Koromon shaking underneath Daisuke’s quilt. His normally healthy pink colouring was pale almost white and seemed to have a blue tint to it, his eyes had also turned completely white as the poor Digimon continued to whimper as if it was in pain.

“Stay with him. I’ll wake Onii-chan.” Hikari ordered as she rushed to the ladder and started to pull herself up on the bunk. Taichi was sound asleep his mouth wide open slightly as he snored not at all disturbed by the commotion they were making.

Hikari decided not to mess around and quickly placed her whistle between her lips before taking a deep breath and blowing on it hard.

“PHEET!”

“I’m up! What?!” Taichi growled as he sat up in shock glaring at Hikari with sleepy brown eyes, his hair a more mess than usual.

“It’s Koromon. Something’s wrong with him.” Hikari whispered urgently as she climbed down the ladder and Taichi was quick to follow her. When he caught sight of the Digimon his eyes went wide, it was like the poor thing was having some kind of fit.

“What’s the matter with him? Koromon!” Taichi cried as Daisuke scooted himself back against the wall with a whimper.

It happened slowly, Koromon started to spin in place slowly before he glowed a bright white. Then he got bigger, a lot bigger.

“What?” Taichi whispered as Koromon continued to grow and it wasn’t long before he broke through the bunk bed with a loud crash. The covers slowly fell down revealing Koromon to now be a huge orange coloured dinosaur.

Koromon rumbled as he looked around the room slowly just before Taichi heard his mother calling out to them in the hallway.

“What’s going on out there? Did you kids break a lamp?” Yuuko scolded and Taichi quickly rushed to the door and pushed all his weight against it. He quickly pushed the lock on the door and kept his finger there so his mother couldn’t unlock it from the outside.

“Why’s the door not opening? Taichi? Hikari? Daisuke? Are you alright? Open this door right now!”

Koromon continued to look around the room slowly but he had yet to speak, a faint rumble was coming from his chest but other than that he stayed silent. Still sitting on his bunk, and somehow avoiding getting hurt from the falling pieces of wood, Daisuke whimpered again catching the Digimon’s attention.

Koromon rumbled again before he crouched down slightly and started to sniff the terrified toddler. Koromon whined as he released Daisuke was scared of him again and decided to try the same thing Daisuke did earlier.

He held out his big hands to the boy and waited, it took a couple of seconds but Daisuke soon took a deep breath before reaching out touch Koromon’s hand softly. His small hand was barely able to wrap around the dinosaurs thumb but it was enough to make the Digimon rumble happily.

Daisuke gasped as Koromon suddenly carefully lifted the boy before placing him on his shoulders where Daisuke was quick try and wrap his arms around the Digimon’s neck.

Koromon then turned to the window and both Hikari and Taichi were quick to catch on to what he was about to do.

“Hey don’t even think about! Daisuke get off of him!” Taichi shouted as Hikari ran forward knowing full well Taichi couldn’t leave the door. With a jump, Hikari grabbed hold of Koromon’s leg before pulling herself onto his back and wrapping her arms around his neck so she was sitting behind the toddler.

Taichi felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

“Hikari what are you doing?! Don’t encourage him!” Taichi shouted but Hikari ignored him as she patted Koromon’s head lightly.

“You want to go outside?” She asked and Koromon grunted before he pushed against the window and completely shattered it.

Outside the door Yuuko was getting more and worried, she was sure that was the window that just smashed and she didn’t like the way Taichi was sounding.

“Taichi?! What’s the matter?! Open this door!”

“Yuuko? What’s wrong?” Susumu asked as he quickly joined his wife at the door as he saw her trying to push the door open with her body.

“I can’t get the door open! Susumu something’s happening to the children, you’ve got to help me get in there!” Yuuko pleaded just before another loud bang sounded as Taichi yelled.

“Hikari! Daisuke!” Taichi shouted as Koromon proceeded to tear through the window and walk out onto the balcony that ran across their whole apartment.

“Koromon?” Both Hikari and Daisuke asked the same time before they cried out as Koromon bent his legs and jumped off the balcony, much to Taichi’s horror.

“Hikari! Daisuke!” Taichi shouted hysterically as he ran from the door and out of the balcony. He watched with wide eyes as Koromon proceeded to crush the family car in his landing.

“Won’t you talk to us anymore Koromon?” Hikari whispered as she wrapped one arm around Daisuke’s waist to keep him steady while her other hand kept a tight grip on Koromon’s neck.

Koromon grunted before he took off running, heading towards the main street and away from their apartment.

“Oh no...” Taichi whispered before he turned and ran back into his room. He didn’t even notice his parents forcing his bedroom door open before he charges past them and ran straight to the front door.

“Taichi! Where do you think you’re going?!” Susumu shouted as Taichi slipped on his trainers and opened the door. Susumu tried to make a grab for the boy but Taichi easily slipped past and ran outside, disappearing around the corner before Susumu could stop him.

Yuuko suddenly screamed as she saw the state of the bedroom and also her missing two youngest, she didn’t know what happened but all she knew was now all three of her children were running through the dark streets of Hikarigaoka.

“Susumu go after Taichi! I’ll call the police!” She called as she rushed to the phone and placed it against her ear only to freeze. Instead of dial tone, all she heard was static.

“What on earth is going on?!” She whimpered as she saw everything in the house that had electric was going crazy.

Outside Koromon was now standing on the side of the street with Daisuke and Hikari sitting on his back. He grunted as he took another look around before crossing over and making his way over to some vending machines.

“Are you thirsty Koromon?” Hikari asked but Koromon only grunted before he slammed his claw into the machine lifting it up and allowing the cans to fall to the floor. Hikari gasped as she slid down the Digimon’s back and tried to clean them up, she knew they would get in a lot of trouble if they were caught like this.

“Onee-chan! _”_  Daisuke called out as Koromon started walking again. Hikari had no choice but to drop the cans and pull herself back up on Koromon otherwise she would get left behind.

Further back was Taichi, he was just glad that his parents hadn’t caught up to him yet.

“Hikari! Daisuke!” Taichi shouted as he looked around desperately searching for his younger siblings.

Back with Hikari and Daisuke, Koromon was now standing in the middle of the road. Lucky enough he kept switching lanes to avoid the few cars that were driving this late.

“We really shouldn’t be playing in the street Koromon.” Hikari warned softly already knowing that Koromon wasn’t going to answer her. Suddenly a light blinded all three of them as a lorry speed full speed towards them.

“Did you see that?!”

“No, I was sleeping.”

“But you’re driving!”

“Are you alright Daisuke?” Hikari whispered as Koromon landed back on the street with a small thump. Koromon growled and the children cried out as he suddenly spat out a fireball that blew up a phone box, just missing the truck that had almost hit them.

“Koromon you’re scaring me.” Daisuke whimpered as he buried his face into the back of the Digimon’s head. Hikari swallowed hard as she released she too was starting to fear the Digimon just as much as her Otōto.

By now Taichi had found the destroyed vending machine and the scattered cans of Soda scattered all over the floor.

“Hikari! Daisuke!”

“Why are you looking at that bus?” Hikari demanded shakily as she realised that Koromon was now growling at a public bus that was coming around the corner.

“I know that ‘Kaa-chan says they’re always late but they can’t help it!” Hikari rambled as Koromon started charging up his attack in the back of his throat.

“Don’t be a bad boy!” Daisuke cried from where he had climbed on top of Koromon’s head and tapped him between his eyes. Koromon stopped though as he caught sight of a helicopter flying by.

“I think we should go home now, okay?” Hikari whimpered as she barely managed to hold on to Koromon’s shoulders. Daisuke sobbed as Koromon growled and started firing at the helicopter but he missed and struck the side of one of the apartment blocks instead.

With a growl Koromon took running down the street, his eyes still on the sky.

Taichi was just running up a set of stairs when he spotted the traffic lights going haywire, it kept changing colours and was even sparking electric sparks. The sky turned green as a strange code of numbers ran across it just as the sky seemed to split.

“What is that?” Taichi whispered before it eyes went wide as he saw a giant egg slowly coming from the split in the sky. A loud crack echoed around the area before it split in half revealing the Digimon that was inside.

“A bird?” Hikari whispered before the bird suddenly flew straight at them. Koromon turned so suddenly that both Hikari and Daisuke were thrown off and hit the ground with loud cries.

The bird Digimon was huge, much bigger than Koromon that was for sure. Its feathers were green but the ones on top of his wings were bright yellow. His feet were blue and he had gold bands wrapped around his arms and silver ones around his ankles. On his belly was a huge metal plate that seemed to be screwed in and a similar was on top of its head.

It was then that Taichi finally caught up to them as barely missed being hit by one of Koromon’s attacks.

“Fire?” Taichi whispered before he looked behind him. His eyes were quick to lock on to his younger siblings and he took off running to them.

“Hikari! Daisuke!”

“Koromon please stop it! Let’s just go back home.” Hikari pleaded as she pushed all her weight against the Digimon but he didn’t even budge. Daisuke was the one who spotted Taichi and he was quick to run into his arms.

“Nii-chan!”

“Daisuke are you alright?” Taichi whispered as the four-year-old sobbed into his shirt. Taichi picked up the boy and placed him on his hip before rushing to where Hikari was still trying to get Koromon to move.

“Hikari! We’ve got to get away.” Taichi said as he forced her turn around but Hikari pushed away his hand away and ran right in front of Koromon.

“Koromon!”

“Hikari it’s too dangerous! We’ve got to go!” Taichi pleaded as he ran up to her trying to get her to listen to him. It was Daisuke who remembered the other Digimon and it was him who noticed it was starting to spark with electricity.

“Nii-chan _!_ Bad Digimon!” Daisuke screamed causing Taichi to look over just as the bird Digimon fired his attack straight towards them. Everything flashed white and Taichi was quick to throw himself over his younger siblings as the bridge collapse over them.

Silence fell across the street.

* * *

Yuuko screamed as the apartment shook violently causing her to fall the floor. It was over in a matter of seconds but it still shook her up pretty badly.

“What was that?” She whispered as she saw smoke slowly rise past her window in thick waves. She flinched though when the electricity started acting up once more but at a wider rate.

The lights of the apartment flashed on and off, the phone continued to beep loudly and even the microwave was making a strange noise from the kitchen.

“Kids where are you?”

* * *

The dust was quickly settling down and a loud growling sound was heard coming from the rubble. The lights of the apartment blocks continued to flicker as a huge shape shook off rocks and debris before lifting his head with a growl.

It was another dinosaur Digimon but this one was much bigger than before. Its skin was a much darker red but with strange lines covering all over and a dark brown skull, helmet was resting on top of its head.

Koromon growled again before it lifted itself up slightly to reveal the Yagami sibling curled up underneath him completely unharmed.

“Are you two alright?” Taichi asked as he allowed himself to sit up from where he was covering his younger siblings. Neither answered him though, Daisuke stifled a sob as Hikari looked up at the Digimon that was protecting them.

“Koromon?” Hikari whimpered as both she and Daisuke cuddled close to Taichi as the boy looked up in awe. Koromon growled slightly as he allowed his eyes to run over the three siblings.

“I don’t....hurt my...friends...” Koromon struggled to say through his growls but then his eyes seemed to flash white for just a second as he glared at the other Digimon.

“I...protect them!” He roared before firing a huge wave of white fire that threw the other Digimon in the air and caused him to roll on the ground. Feathers floated to the ground around them as the three children stared at them in shock.

“Koromon!” Hikari screamed as tears ran down her cheeks. She really didn’t want him to fight, she just wanted everything to go back to how they were this morning.

Daisuke was silent all though there were tears running down his cheeks too. He was holding on to Taichi’s wrist with one hand while the other held his square goggles that hung around his neck.

“A-amazing...” Taichi whispered as he watched Koromon and the bird Digimon lock arms like they were wrestling before Koromon managed to throw the bird to the ground. He then blasted him with another wave of fire but the other Digimon blocked it.

“My turn.” The Digimon suddenly cackled before he slammed his head into Koromon’s stomach sending the poor Digimon back a few feet. Koromon roared as he prepared to stand up but the other Digimon was ready for him.

“ **SONIC DESTROYER**!”

Taichi quickly pulled both Hikari and Daisuke out of the way as Koromon crashed in front of them on his back, completely unconscious.

“Oh no! Onii-chan he’s hurt!” Hikari cried out as she tried to stumble towards him but Taichi was quick to wrap his arms around her.

“’Kari, there’s nothing you can do!” Taichi said as he looked at Koromon sadly but he continued to hold Hikari back as she sobbed in his arms.

“Koromon...”

“Nii-chan he’s coming!” Daisuke shouted as he pointed over to where the bird Digimon was slowly walking towards them, savouring their fear that came with his victory.

“Koromon you’ve got to get up! He’s coming!” Taichi pleaded near tears himself but the Digimon stayed silent. Taichi released a choked sob as he allowed Daisuke to curl up in his arms with Hikari.

It was then Taichi noticed Hikari had lifted her whistle and placed it between her lips.

“Phee-*cough, cough* pheeee-*cough* phee-” Hikari let her whistle drop back down from her lips as she fell into a coughing fit. Saliva dripped from her lips as she tried to catch her breath.

“It worked on me...” Taichi whispered to himself before his eyes lit up and he quickly grabbed the whistle just before Hikari could try again and took a deep breath.

“PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!” Taichi blew as hard as he could. The noise echoed all around the area as Taichi prayed with all his heart.

‘Please!’

Eventually, Taichi had no choice but to stop as he pulled the whistle away from his lips and gasped for breath. All three Yagami children looked at Koromon hopefully just as his eyes shot open once more.

Koromon roared as he forced himself to stand on his feet much to the other Digimon’s horror. He started charging up his attack at the back of his throat.

Taichi glared at the bird Digimon as he pulled both Hikari and Daisuke close preparing himself for the backlash of this attack.

“FIRE!” Taichi shouted and Koromon was quick to comply covering the whole area in a white light.

* * *

The Sun rose over Hikarigaoka revealing the destroyed street but the two Digimon were gone.

“Koromon!” Hikari shouted as she desperately searched for the orange dinosaur that had become their friend but to no avail.

‘ _It was a short meeting and one that shouldn’t have happened in our world..._ ’

“Koromon!” Hikari shouted again with tears in her eyes before she started sobbing. Taichi stood behind her as he looked around the area in shock, only just realising how much damage had actually been done.

“Nii-chan?” Daisuke whispered as he grips Taichi’s wrist once again forcing the brunet to look down at him in confusion. Daisuke wasn’t looking at Taichi though; he was watching Hikari continue to search.

‘ _It wasn’t until later on that we released how important this short meeting was. For me, for my younger siblings and for 6 other children...”_

“Will we ever see him again?” Daisuke asked but Taichi stayed silent because he honestly had no idea.

‘ _This is how we become the Chosen Children and this is the beginning of our adventure that continued 2 years later.’_

“Taichi! Hikari! Daisuke!”

“Tou-chan!”

 _“_ Tou-san!”

‘ _At the beginning of summer.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  - **Otōto** (弟, Little Brother) – _The term used for little or younger brother._  
>  - **Aniki** (お兄さん, Older Brother) - _The term used for Older or Big brother._  
>  - **Okaa/Kaa** (母, {Respected} Mother) - _The term used for ones mother._  
>  - **Otou/Tou** (父, {Respected} Father) – _The term used for ones father._  
>  - **Onee/Nee** (姉, {Respected} Elder Sister) – _Term used for a respected older sister._  
>  - **Onii/Nii** (兄弟, {Respected} Elder Brother) – _Term used for a respected older brother._  
>  - **Senpai** (先輩, Upperclassman) – _Used for one's senior (colleague, fellow student) or more generally somebody in the same social class but superior to you (ex, 'Kunou-sempai')_  
>  - **Kiseki** (奇跡, Miracle)


	3. Arc 1: Episode 1- Adrift? The Island of Adventure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys and welcome back to A Touch of Miracles! I would just like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favourite and/or followed this story so far. I'm glad you're all enjoying this and I hope to continue to please you ^_^.  
> Now I'm going to take the time to quickly explain how I'm doing the ages in this and then you can read on, alright?  
> Right, I'm using the Japanese ages for this, except for Joe who I have made one year older and obviously Daisuke, so there isn't so much of a huge jump in 02. To help you with Daisuke's age let me just say this, he's the exact age as Iori Hida; in fact, I'm planning on having the two of them being pretty good friends.  
> Also if it seems at times that Taichi is a bit harsh on Daisuke please remember that Taichi is eleven years old, he's almost a teenager and despite the fact he loves his brother he does find it a bit embarrassing to hang out with a six-year-old. He's the same with Hikari but he's a bit kinder for reasons only you hardcore Digimon fans would remember. So just be warned he loves Daisuke, but he is still a kid himself.  
> Oh I don't know if you noticed but I am using both the English version and the Original version of Digimon to make this story, hopefully, it will turn out alright in the end.  
> Right let's get right into this then! Enjoy guys!

A huge field sitting below a hill slowly appeared. Trees were surrounding the area and children of all ages were running around laughing as tents were slowly set up on flat ground. Teachers were trying to make order but it was difficult with so many kids to look after.

In a tree, not too far from camp but far enough not to get noticed, sleeping on one of the higher branches was a boy who looked around ten to eleven years old. He had brown hair that was sticking up in a huge bush style, which was held in place with a blue headband and a pair of round clear goggles. The boy wore a simple blue t-shirt with a yellow shirt underneath and brown shorts, a pair of blue, white and yellow sneakers with baggy white socks and finally a pair of white gloves covered his hands.

The boy was Taichi Yagami, or just Tai to his close friends and family, and he was the eldest child of the Yagami family. Normally it was hard to get Taichi to actually walk instead of run anyway but the bus to the camp was long and Taichi was exhausted, so he snuck away to get a quick cat nap.

Sitting at the base of the tree was the only boy who would be able to find Taichi no matter where he hid too. He was much younger this boy, looking around five maybe six years old, with messy spiked burgundy hair and mocha coffee eyes. He wore a blue hooded t-shirt, brown shorts and a pair of square goggles that hung around his neck. His sneakers were orange and he had matching sweatbands on his wrists, finally he had a blue backpack with a soccer balls printed all the pockets sitting beside him.

This boy is Daisuke Yagami and he's the younger adoptive brother of Taichi, and also the youngest Yagami child. Daisuke was much more hyperactive than his older brother and very often found it hard to concentrate or even sit still. There are only three things that can keep his attention for a long time and that's soccer, drawing and playing his handheld game consol.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Daisuke muttered to himself as he continued to mash the buttons on his poor game device with manic determination. He knew his mother wouldn't be happy when she realizes he had snuck the device in his backpack but he knew Taichi wouldn't want to play with him all through the summer.

So he brought ways to entertain himself seeing as Daisuke didn't think he would make friends here like his mother hoped.

It was then did something small and white land softly on his game screen causing the six-year-old to blink in confusion.

"Aniki?" Daisuke called up to his brother knowing full well he wasn't really asleep; he just didn't want to be asked to do some heavy lifting.

"What?" Taichi grunted as he continued to rest his hands behind his head allowing the sun to beam down on his face in such a calming way.

"Is it meant to snow today?"

"It's summer Daisuke. Why would it snow?" Taichi retorted and Daisuke bit his lip as another snowflake fell onto his game consol. Taichi suddenly yelped though when something cold landed on his nose.

"What?" Taichi whispered as he sat up in shock and held out his gloves hands. Slowly a white flake landed on his palm but quickly melted due to his body heat.

"It's snowing?"

The Yagami brothers weren't the only ones noticing the weather though, there was a girl looking around the same age as Taichi who was next to notice the weather.

She had short red hair and dark red eyes and she wore a yellow and white sleeveless top with light blue jeans. She wore normal sneakers, bright red gloves and a blue helmet-like hat.

Her name is Sora Takenouchi and she is Taichi's best friend and fellow teammate on the soccer field. She also had a very soft spot for Daisuke, finding the cute Otōto of her best friend completely precious.

"Where did those two run off to? Tai better not be slacking off again." Sora grumbled as she continued to search the forest for her missing friends without success. The only one who could find Taichi when he was hiding was Daisuke, and he went with him.

Her eyes blinked though when a couple of white flakes floated down in front of her face and settled on the soft grass.

"Snow?"

The soft snow fall took a very sudden turn for the worse as it turned to a huge blizzard the quickly covered the camp in the snow.

"To the cabins!" The teachers shouted and Taichi quickly jumped down from his branch and landed on his feet in a crouch.

"Get on my back Daisuke." Taichi ordered and Daisuke was quick to comply, after slipping his backpack on. Taichi tried to make it back to the cabins but the snow was just too thick if he continued they could end up completely lost.

"Alright, we'll try something else." Taichi grunted as he took off running up the steep hill that held the shrine. He could hear footsteps following him meaning some other kids also couldn't get to the cabin so decided to take shelter in the shrine too.

Taichi was glad that he played soccer for a hobby, it didn't take him long to reach the shrine and rush inside with Daisuke. The door was slammed shut by the person that followed him as Taichi allowed Daisuke to slip off his back.

"Are you alright Daisuke?" Taichi asked and even though he sneezed Daisuke still managed to smile brightly at his big brother.

"You ran so fast Aniki. You were like the wind, it was so cool!" Daisuke gushed happily and Taichi puffed his chest out with pride. It always stroked his ego when Daisuke praised him over something.

"Oh don't tell him that Daisuke-chan. We don't need his ego to get any bigger." Sora teased as she leant against the door, being the last one through the door and as such was the one who closed it.

"Sora-onee-san!" Daisuke squeaked and Taichi rolled his eyes as Sora crouched down and opened her arms allowing Daisuke to run straight into her with a laugh.

"It's good to see you Daisuke-chan. Are you feeling better? Didn't you and Tai end up catching a cold from Hikari-chan?" Sora asked causing Daisuke to bite his lip slightly. Sora looked up at Taichi to see him determinedly looking away from them his expression slightly dark.

"Hikari-nee _-_ chan ended up catching it from us again. She's at home sick." Daisuke admitted with a pout. Sora couldn't help herself from hugging him again causing him to giggle.

Taichi looked around the shrine to who else was exactly in here; to his surprise, it was everyone that was meant to share a cabin with him back on the campsite.

Near the back were Yamato Ishida and his Otōto Takeru Takaishi, Yamato seemed quite happy to stay away from the others while Takeru seemed to want to talk to someone other than his brother, maybe he and Daisuke would get along? They were pretty close to the same age.

Sitting near the door was Joe Kido, the boy had been assigned as their cabin manager but he was such a nervous wreck it was really hard for him to take charge of the kids.

Sitting next to Joe was Koushirou Izumi and to Taichi, it seemed the kid doesn't even release that other people had joined him in the shrine. He was more interested in what was going on with his computer.

"Still no connection? Is it broken?" Koushirou mumbled just before a loud huff caught everyone's attention.

"How long are we going to be stuck here? It's too cramped!" Mimi Tachikawa whined from where she sat curled up in the corner of the shrine, her arms wrapped around her knees as she pouted.

"We can't go anywhere until this blizzard lets up," Sora said soothingly as she stood to her feet and allowed Daisuke to go free.

"Actually guys, I think it has!" Taichi pointed out with a grin as he realised all had gone silent outside. He was quick to rush to the door and slid it open revealing that it had all settled down.

The blizzard had certainly left it's mark though. Everywhere you look there would be a layer of snow; it covered the ground and the trees giving the campsite a beautiful pure white appearance.

"So the canoe races are obviously cancelled, so let's have a toboggan race instead!" Taichi cheered before he raced onto the small hill that the shrine rested on.

"Hey Daisuke-kun, do you want to come build a snowman with me?" Takeru asked the youngest boy of the group. Takeru thought it might be a bit easier to get along Daisuke instead of the other kids considering they were closer to the same age.

"Okay! But I bet I can make a bigger one than you." Daisuke challenged with a grin as he accepted the blonde's hand and allowed him to pull him outside.

"Not a chance!"

"Hey Takeru you be careful, you might trip on something!" Yamato called out as he quickly rushed out after the two boys into the cold deciding if no one else was going to watch them then he will.

"Brr. If I knew it was going to be this cold I would have brought a jacket." Sora said as she walked outside with a shiver. The cold didn't stop her from joining her friends outside though; she was never one to stop just because there were limitations.

"Oh geez and I was worried about catching a summer cold," Joe muttered as he walked outside, the emergency supplies still swung over his shoulder.

"Oh wow! I wish I brought my pink snow boots!" Mimi gushed happily as she rushed outside to the join the others, not at all bothered by the cold.

Koushirou though stayed inside as he continued to click away on his computer. With a sigh of frustration though he sat back and looked down at the small device he held in his hand.

"I guess the storm is messing up the connections." He murmured proving that he had been aware of the other kids joining him in the shrine and also knew it was because of the sudden blizzard that had occurred.

"Hey...uh...Izumi! You've got to come and see this!" Taichi suddenly called out causing Koushirou to sigh before he slipped his laptop on his back and joined the other kids outside.

"Wow." He whispered as he saw what exactly had attracted the other kid's attention. Going across the sky was a wave of colours, red, orange and green all of them moving together like a dance.

"It's so beautiful!" Mimi sighed with a happy grin and Taichi nodded.

"What is it though?" Koushirou asked in confusion which wasn't a common emotion for him. Beside him, Sora shrugged as she took a guess.

"An aurora?"

"You mean Aurora Borealis? The northern lights? That's impossible. You see that's in Alaska. We're way too far south." Koushirou denied and Sora couldn't help but snort slightly.

"Well, you try telling that to the snow."

"It's so cool!" Takeru grinned and beside him, Daisuke nodded with a grin.

"Yeah! It looks like when I spill my paints on the floor but this time I won't be getting into trouble for it." Daisuke giggled and Takeru couldn't help but join in.

"We should go back inside before we all get sick." Joe fretted as he fiddled with his fingers.

"Seriously? You worried about getting sick when the sky is short-circuiting?" Yamato demanded before Taichi blinked and pointed to the sky.

"Hey does anybody else see that?" He asked causing everyone to look up. Above them, a swirling green portal had appeared in the sky and to Taichi it seemed awfully familiar.

Suddenly though eight lights appeared in the portal above them and started flying towards them. The eight children barely had a chance to cover themselves before the lights hit the ground in from of them with a wave of snow.

"Is everyone alright?" Sora called as she jumped to her feet and looked around everyone in worry. She was quick to spot Taichi near the front of the group and Daisuke was being helped to his feet by Takeru.

"We're okay over here," Yamato reassured her as the two young boys helped clear the snow of each other. It was an adorable sight and Sora barely held herself back from crushing the two in a hug.

"That was scary." Mimi whimpered as she was helped to her feet by Joe who seemed to be the only one not shaking in fear.

"What was that?" Taichi questioned and Koushirou crawled over to where a light had struck the ground close to him and looked inside the hole it had left behind.

"Meteors?" He suggested sounding sceptical of his opinion himself. He flinched away from the hole though when a light beamed out of it. Slowly a small round bubble floated out of the whole and after a quick look, Koushirou released the same was happening to everyone else.

Taichi was the first to reach out and grab his bubble and was quickly followed by Daisuke. Soon enough all the kids followed his example, Joe being the last and almost losing his in the sky.

Slowly Taichi allowed his fingers to open so he could take a look at what he actually grabbed. Sitting in the palm of his hand was a pale blue device with four sides and a screen in the middle. It had two buttons sitting on the right of the screen and one of the left but there was also a small antenna sitting on the top left hand on the device. A strange code surrounded the screen in a circle and another collection of codes surrounded the screen in a square shape.

"What is this thing?" Mimi muttered as she looked at the strange device in her hand.

"I kind of looks like one of my game consoles," Daisuke admitted as he looked at his own with a small frown. Something was telling him that this was all connected to something but Daisuke just couldn't remember what.

"My guess is some sort of miniature remote digital apparatus," Koushirou mumbled as he turned the device in his hand before pressing a couple of buttons. Taichi sighed as he looked at his own device before he caught sight of something in the corner of his eye.

When he looked up he couldn't stop the yelp of shock passing his lips.

"Forget about the strange devices! Look at that!" Taichi yelled causing all the kids to look ahead only to scream in shock. In front of them, a huge wave had suddenly appeared from nowhere and threatened to swallow them whole.

None of them could move fast enough before the wave was upon them and sucked them up into a strange portal full of colours and numbers. The group of eight children could only scream as they tumbled aware from the world they knew and into somewhere completely different.

* * *

"Taichi~"

"Come on! Wake up Taichi!"

"Taichi!"

"I'm up, I'm up." Taichi grumbled as he forced himself awake as he felt something jumping determinedly on his chest.

"Daisuke I thought I told you not to wake me up like-" Taichi's brown eyes went wide as soon as he caught sight of what exactly was bouncing on his chest and it wasn't his Otōto.

It was a round pink ball with very long ears and ruby red eyes when it smiled Taichi could see it had fangs instead of teeth. Taichi stared at the thing for a few seconds before he screamed and crab walked backwards away from it in fear.

"W-what are you?"

"You don't have to be afraid of me Taichi! I'm your friend, I'm your friend!" The creature laughed as it bounced up and down on the ground with a happy smile.

"Friend? What do you mean? Do I know you?" Taichi questioned nervously as he shakily pushed himself to his feet, flinching as the pink creature bounced closer to him happily.

"I've been waiting for you for so long Taichi! I'm so glad to finally meet you!" The creature laughed before he bounced right into Taichi's hands, who continued to stare at him blankly.

"Waiting for me? Why?"

"Because we're partners Taichi! My name is Koromon and I'm your partner!" The newly named Koromon grinned widely and Taichi blinked as the name rang something familiar in his memory.

"Koromon? Have we met before? You remind me of something but..." Taichi trailed off as he tried to make himself remember but it was impossible. Koromon blinked as he looked at the boy in confusion just before something caused the plants to rustle behind them.

"Taichi-san _?_ " Koushirou called out nervously as he pushed his way through the strange looking plants that seemed to surround the aware and sighed in relief he finally spotted someone familiar.

"Izumi? So you're here too huh?" Taichi mused rhetorically causing Koushirou to chuckle nervously as something appeared near his ankle.

"Yes and it seems like you've got one of these pink things too," Koushirou said as he looked down at the creature standing by his leg. It looked like a walking jellyfish seeing as instead of legs it seemed to have very small tentacles. It had two arms with 3 claws working as hands and a pair of big brown eyes that shined with adoration as it continued to stare at Koushirou.

"I'm not a pink thing! My name is Motimon, it's nice to meet you friend of Koushirou-san!" Motimon grinned and Taichi yelped dropping Koromon to the floor in shock.

"Another one? What are these things?"

"I believe those miniature remote digital gadgets have taken on an actual life form." Koushirou theorised but he still looked out of sorts.

"Does that mean that everyone who got those strange gadgets is going to be here then?" Taichi questioned but Koushirou shrugged.

"I don't know. It's possible."

Taichi looked down at the two creatures who were now greeting each other happily as if they were old friends. That meant everyone who was with him at the Shrine is probably here, where ever here is.

Which means...

"Daisuke!" Taichi suddenly gasped as he started to look around frantically.

"Taichi-san _?"_

"My Otōto, Daisuke. I-I've got to find him, who knows what kind of trouble he's getting into too!" Taichi rambled before he took off running.

"Wait! Taichi-san!"

"Wait for me Taichi!"

'Daisuke please be okay!' Taichi thought to himself as he continued to run not releasing that Koromon had caught up to him and had wrapped his arms around his neck so not to lose sight of him.

* * *

On the other side of the island, completely separated from Taichi and the others, a small six-year-old groaned as he slowly awoke from his sleep.

Sitting up Daisuke yawned widely before rubbing his eyes softly. As he allowed his hands to drop though he realised it wasn't his mattress that he was sitting on, it actually felt more like sand.

Now wide away Daisuke scrambled to his feet and looked around widely. It looked like he was on a beach but strangely enough, there seemed to be a row of phonebooks lined up near the water edge.

"Where am I?" The six-year-old whispered to himself as he gript the straps of his backpack in worry.

"You're in the Digital World!" A voice suddenly squeaked behind him causing Daisuke to freeze. Slowly Daisuke turned around only to scream as he caught sight of the creature standing behind him.

"Oh please don't be scared of me Daisuke! I won't hurt you!" The creature pleaded as Daisuke fell on his backside in the sand. Daisuke swallowed as he took in the creature's appearance.

It was about half of the size of Daisuke, probably only just reaching his waist if they both stood up, with blue skin. It looked like a baby dragon with two long ears that were bent in the middle and tail that was wagging happily. It's arms and legs were stubby and it had huge red eyes. It's face and tummy though was white and it seemed to have a cat-like mouth that was grinning at Daisuke in such a cute way that he couldn't see the creature as dangerous.

As he stared at the creature in front of him Daisuke suddenly realised what it was and found himself relaxing just a bit.

"You...You're a Digimon, aren't you?" Daisuke stuttered and was rewarded with a huge smile from the creature before it jumped forward towards him.

"That's right Daisuke! My name is Chibimon and I'm your partner." Chibimon said as he snuggled close to Daisuke's chest and started purring in happiness.

Daisuke bit his lip before he carefully brought his hand up to scratch the small dragon behind his ears causing him to practically melt at the feeling. The poor six-year-old really didn't know what to feel about this, it had been two years since his last encounter with a Digimon and it seemed that he and Hikari-Nee-chan were the only ones who remembered what truly happened that night.

Everyone else just thought it was a bomb, Daisuke remembered getting told off by his Kaa-chan for even thinking about going out alone and it was the same for his older siblings. Daisuke had begun to think he imagined the whole thing so why did it start up now?

With a small huff and a pout, Daisuke stopped petting Chibimon before placing him on the sand and standing up himself. The small Digimon looked at him curiously as the boy patted himself free from the sand before smiling slightly down at the Digimon.

"So you're my partner? What does that mean?" Daisuke questioned and Chibimon grinned as he waved his hands up and down in excitement.

"It means I'm going to protect you Daisuke! We're going to work together and I'm going to protect you, I promise. I'll be the best partner you can ever ask for!" Chibimon gushed and Daisuke couldn't help but giggle before he held out his hand to the small dragon.

"Okay you can be my partner but you've got to be my friend first, deal?" Daisuke bargained. Chibimon eyes gleamed with tears as he practically glowed with happiness.

"Deal!" Chibimon sniffed before he shook Daisuke's hand with his own causing the boy to grin impishly.

"Now where are we?"

"We're in the Digital World, Daisuke! This place is home for all Digimon." Chibimon explained causing Daisuke to blink slightly.

"Digital World?"

* * *

"What's that?" Koushirou questioned as he looked at Motimon with a curious expression causing the Digimon to grin.

"The Digital World is where all of us come from. This is our home, it's where we're born and it's where we live our lives too." Motimon explained and Koushirou hummed in understanding.

Surprisingly Taichi had managed to calm down with Koromon's reassurance that if Daisuke, whoever he was, is here then he too would have a partner who looks after him just like Koromon was there to watch over Taichi.

All though Taichi was still worrying about Daisuke it did stop him from running through the strange forest like a lunatic.

"Where is the Digital World then?" Taichi questioned but rolled his eyes when both Digimon seemed to shrug.

"Then I guess I'll look around myself then," Taichi grunted as he grabbed hold of a branch close to him and starting to climb as high as he could. Koromon was quick to follow him up by bouncing on the branches and it wasn't long before the two were sitting on a high branch. Carefully Taichi slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his mini spyglass before taking a look.

"The ocean, so near to a mountain? And look at all these trees. I don't think we're anywhere near out campsite that's for sure." Taichi mused as he continued to look around through the glass.

"So what do you see Taichi?" Koromon asked causing Taichi to sigh as he brought down his spyglass from his eye.

"Nothing I recognise." Taichi sighed before something red caught his attention from the corner of his eye. With a frown, he brought his spyglass back up and started to look.

"Wait, what is that?"

"What's what, Taichi?" Koromon demanded seeing as he couldn't see as far as Taichi could without his own spyglass.

Flying through the air was a bright red beetle creature. It had four arms all with very sharp claws and two legs. Its wings buzzed behind it as it screeched showing off it's sharp fangs to the world.

"It kind of looks like a red beetle." Taichi described to the Digimon next to him causing the poor thing to let out a gasp. Taichi looked at Koromon in concern as he saw how white the little guy had just gone.

"What's the matter?"

"We need to get out of here, Taichi! That Digimon is bad news; he'll kill us if he catches us in his territory!" Koromon squeaked before a loud roar made him whimper in fear. Taichi yelped as he saw the Digimon was getting closer and quickly scooped Koromon up in his arms before jumping out of the tree, just as it was turned into sawdust.

"Taichi-san! Are you alright?" Koushirou cried out as he saw the eleven-year-old crash to the ground with a groan, Koromon held safely in his arms.

"I'll live. Are you okay Koromon?" Taichi asked and the Digimon looked up at him with watery eyes.

"Y-you saved me..." Koromon whispered and Taichi couldn't help but smile as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Of course I did. We're partners, aren't we?" Taichi questioned and Koromon couldn't help but grin happily at him. A loud roar destroyed the happy moment and the two children yelped as they hit the floor as the Digimon flew just over their heads.

"What is that?" Koushirou cried out as he watched the red beetle fly into the air before preparing to turn around.

"That's Kuwagamon and he's an insect Adult Digimon. He's vicious and ruthless, with teeth like knives and scissor hands that can chop through anything. Kuwagamon is one Digimon you don't want to get on the wrong side of." Motimon summarised as the group slowly got back to their feet.

"He's coming back around!" Koromon pointed out before he squeaked when Taichi suddenly picked him up in his arms.

"We need to run!" Taichi shouted and as soon as Koushirou nodded Taichi took off running with Koushirou and Motimon not far behind him.

"Taichi-san he's following us!" Koushirou cried out as he looked over his shoulder just in time to see Kuwagamon crashed through a few trees with a loud screech.

"Quickly in here!" Motimon called out as he jumped towards a tree and then, to the shock of the two kids, jumped right through it. Not wanting to think about Taichi grabbed Koushirou's wrist before following Motimon inside.

Inside it looked nothing like a tree, instead of bark the inside seemed to be covered in metal plates that glowed a very light green.

"What is this?" Koushirou whispered as he ran his hand up one of the metal panels and watched as the light faded for just a second before returning. Motimon was about to answer when Koromon shushed him just as they heard a loud screech.

Hidden away the group of four held their breaths as they waited for Kuwagamon to pass over them before they all relaxed.

"It's alright you can come out now." A familiar voice teased from outside. Taichi poked his head out and grinned.

"Sora! You're alright." Taichi said happily as he walked towards the girl he thought as his best friend, Koushirou and the two Digimon following behind him.

"I never thought I would see the great Yagami Taichi hide from something." Sora teased with a smirk causing Taichi to pout as he looked to the side.

"You would hide too if you had something like that thing chasing you." He grumbled before he noticed something peeking shyly out from behind Sora's leg. Sora noticed where he was looking and smiled sheepishly before she stepped to the side.

"Oh yeah, this is Yokomon. She says she my partner or something like that." Sora said as both Koushirou and Taichi got a good look at the Digimon. Yokomon looked like a pink onion bulb with a flower on top of her head that seemed to be a mix between blue and purple. Her eyes were a beautiful green colour with four black lines going through them.

"It's lovely to meet you all," Yokomon whispered shyly as she bowed her head in greeting. Koromon and Motimon ran forward and the three of them greeted each other happily.

"I wonder what they are." Koushirou wondered just before another creature ran out of the bushes with a giggle. This one was pure white and was walking on four legs, it had long white ears and a mouthful of sharp teeth.

"Geez, they're popping up like rabbits," Taichi muttered to himself as he watched the new creature great the others before looking behind him.

"I found them Takeru!" He called out just before Takeru pushed his way through the bushes with a grin.

"Hey, guys! This is Tokomon, he was there with me when I woke up." Takeru said as he sat down on the ground and scratched Tokomon behind his long ears causing him to purr.

"Takeru! How many times have I told you to stop running off? You have no idea where we are or what kind of dangers there are. I want you to stay near me until I said so, understand?" Yamato lectured as he pushed his way through the bushes holding another creature under his arm like a basketball.

He had orange fur and a white face with a huge metal horn poking out from the top of the top of his head. His eyes were orange and seemed to be outlined with eyeliner.

"Yes, Onii-san." Takeru whispered sulkily as he allowed Tokomon to go play with the other Digimon.

"So you've got one as well then, huh Yamato." Taichi mused thoughtfully as Yamato put the creature down to join the others.

"He was there when I woke up." Yamato shrugged not taken his eyes off Takeru just in case he decided to run off again.

"My name is Tsunomon. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Tsunomon introduced himself with a blush painted across his cheeks. His shyness disappeared though when Koromon proceeded to tackle him causing the two to play fight together.

The five children stared at the playing Digimon in silence as they tried to work out what to do. Taichi was about to suggest something when someone came screaming out of the trees causing them all to jump.

"Help me! This thing keeps following me everywhere! Why aren't you guys running away from?! AHH!" Joe screamed as he fell to the floor revealing the creature that was sitting on his back with a cheeky smile.

It looked like a seal with flippers and grey skin but it also had a tuft of orange hair resting on its head that looked like a burning flame. Its eyes were blue and fangs were peeking out from its lips.

"Joe-san _?_ _ **"**_  Taichi questioned as the older child scrambled to his feet with another yell as he spotted the group of Digimon playing together.

"Hey who are you calling a thing? I won't hurt you, Joe, I'm your friend! My name is Bukamon." The seal Digimon said with a grin causing Joe to whimper.

"I don't care who you are, just please get off of me! Why are you all just standing there?! What are these things?!" Joe demanded hysterically as Bukamon jumped down to join the rest of them.

"We're Digimon." They all said in sync causing the kids to fall silent.

"Digimon?" Taichi asked as he wondered why that name sounded so familiar to him.

* * *

Daisuke had found himself getting along really well with Chibimon which surprised himself. He was still weary of Digimon, especially after what happened last time, but just like with Koromon Daisuke found himself able to enjoy Chibimon's company.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find any food Daisuke." Chibimon whispered sadly as he laid flat on his back in the sand with a sad frown, making himself look adorable. Daisuke giggled as he slipped off his backpack and started digging through it.

"It's okay Chibimon. I'm not sure it would be safe to eat anything we find anyway." Daisuke reassured as he thought back to their failed food hunt.

Chibimon had explained to him all about the Digital World just before Daisuke's stomach rumbled. Together the two of them had decided to search the forest for some fruit but without any luck.

"Here," Daisuke said as he pulled out a candy bar from his backpack and snapped a piece off before offering it to the small Digimon. Chibimon blinked at the offering before taking it hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"It's chocolate. This is my favourite kind because there's strawberry cream in the middle." Daisuke said as he broke off his own piece and ate it with a smile. Chibimon looked at Daisuke's happy face as he sniffed his own piece before bravely taking a nibble.

His red eyes widened before the chocolate was gone in a matter of seconds leaving Chibimon with a brown mask over his lips.

"Yummy!" Chibimon squeaked happily as he rubbed his belly making Daisuke laugh.

"It is, isn't it?" Daisuke agreed before pulling out his sketchbook and his metal pencil case much to Chibimon's confusion.

"What are you doing now, Daisuke?" Chibimon questioned as he pulled himself up Daisuke's back until he was resting on his head. Daisuke barely reacted, Chibimon may have been half his height but he was very light.

"I'm going to draw something."

"Draw something?" Chibimon asked before Daisuke opened his sketchbook and showed him. Chibimon's eyes widened as he took all the different pictures that Daisuke had drawn.

The pictures weren't masterpieces but they were much better than any other six-year-old could come up with. Daisuke's ability had always been very advanced but he was only six years old and had stubby fingers making it difficult to hold things properly, but that was a common thing in children his age.

Still, Chibimon was very impressed.

"These are good Daisuke!" The small blue dragon praised causing the boy to blush as he flipped to a blank page.

"Thanks," Daisuke whispered quietly. He was never very good at taking compliments, he was just too shy especially when it came to strangers but Daisuke appreciated it none the less.

Silence fell between the two of them as Daisuke started to sketch the sea view in front of him with Chibimon watching on his head. It wasn't an awkward silence though, it was peaceful and relaxing. The sound of the waves was like a soothing lullaby and it wasn't long before Chibimon was lulled to sleep.

The silence was broken though by a horrible rumbling that came from the middle of the sea. Daisuke's eyes shot towards the ocean just in time to see a Digimon burst from it with a loud yell.

"Uh oh."

* * *

"So you're all Digimon?" Taichi asked in confirmation and the six Digimon grinned as they all nodded.

"That's right. Welcome to the Digital World, the home for us Digimon." Koromon happily greeted and the other Digimon followed his example.

"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Yagami Taichi and I'm 11 years old." Taichi introduced himself with his normal smirk.

"I'm Takenouchi Sora and I'm 11 too. I'm also a classmate and teammate of Tai's." Sora smiled kindly as she bowed just as she was taught too.

"I'm Ishida Yamato. I'm also 11 years old but I'm in a different class to Taichi and Sora." Yamato said simply as he kept a hand on Takeru's shoulder.

"I'm Takaishi Takeru and I'm 8 years old but I go to a different school to my Onii-san and his friends." Takeru greeted happily before giggling as Tokomon tackled him the ground and snuggle under his chin.

"I'm Izumi Koushirou. I'm 10 years old but I skipped a grade so I'm in the same class as Taichi-san and Sora-san." Koushirou told the Digimon not even blinking at admitting to being pushed forward to a higher class.

"I'm Kido Joe and I'm 12 years old. I'm actually a 1st Grader in Junior High so I go to a different school to the rest of the group." Joe finished the introduction with a shaky smile and a bow.

"That means he's our senior." Sora helpfully whispered to the Digimon just in case they got confused by what they called Joe which mixed between 'Joe-san' and Joe-senpai'.

"Is that everyone? I feel like we're missing someone." Yamato pointed out causing Sora to gasp as she looked at Taichi.

"Where's Daisuke-chan?" She demanded but Taichi just shrugged with a frustrated look.

"I don't know. He wasn't here when I woke up and it was too dangerous to look for him by myself." Taichi explained causing Sora to give him a strange look. She was sure that sounded like something Koushirou would say, not Taichi. She guessed that Taichi  _was_  planning on looking but was stopped by the smaller boy.

"Tachikawa-san is missing too." Joe pointed out helpfully as Taichi did a quick head count.

"You mean the girl with the pink hat, right?" Sora questioned before biting her lip when Joe nodded silently. She didn't think Mimi was up to even survive an hour in a place like this, in fact, Sora was sure Daisuke was safer than Mimi here.

Just to confirm her thought a shrill scream reached the ears of the six children causing them to look to the left sharply.

"Tachikawa-san! We're over here!" Joe called out helpfully just as Mimi burst through the bushes screaming all the way. Not far behind her was another creature but this one kind of looked like a flower bulb with two leaves on her head. She was green and white with beautiful amber eyes.

"Help me please!" Mimi cried as she ran to the group just as a loud crash echoed from behind her. Taichi gasped before he looked over at Koushirou to see the boy had gone white.

"It's Kuwagamon!" Koromon whimpered as he and his fellow Digimon jumped into their partners' arms just as the insect Digimon crashed through the trees with a loud screech.

"Run!" Taichi ordered and the other six children were quick to comply. The children took off straight into the forest with Kuwagamon following not far behind them.

Luck seemed to be on their side though as suddenly the insect Digimon turned away from them and flew in a different direction causing them all to sigh in relief.

Slightly breathless Taichi took in their surroundings and quickly realised that if they would continue to go forward they would run right off the edge of a cliff.

"Are you alright, Mimi?" The new Digimon asked quietly to the pink-clad girl who was on her knees and rubbing her eyes as she sniffed.

"Y-yes. Thank you for protecting me Tanemon." Mimi whispered gratefully causing the plant Digimon to smile happily in return.

"We might have to turn around," Taichi announced as he carefully walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

"Be careful Tai." Sora warned but Taichi had always been very nimble on his feet thanks to all the years he played soccer. Taichi looked down before shaking his head at the group making it clear, there was no other option but back.

"Where?" Yamato demanded before a roar from the edge of the mountain made all the kids freeze in fear. It was Sora who recovered first.

"Get away Taichi!" She screamed just as Kuwagamon burst through the edge of the cliff with a screech causing Taichi to fall down on his behind.

Kuwagamon growled and hissed as he stared at the eleven-year-old in front of him, his claws ready to shred him to pieces. Taichi couldn't move, he could only stare in fear as Kuwagamon descended upon him.

"TAICHI!"

* * *

Daisuke yelped as he threw himself down onto the sand just in time to avoid a huge spray of water that was so strong, it actually knocked down one of the trees behind them.

"Chibimon what is that?" Daisuke cried out while staring at the creature fearfully.

Its main body was bright pink with blue spots scattered all over its skin, it's hand were similar to the coral reef that was obviously used for walking under the sea. It had a massive grey spiked shell sitting on it's back, green squiggly bits on top of its head and a black eye patch over its right eye.

"That's Shellmon, an Adult Mollusc Digimon. It changes it's shell when it gets too big and is usually a very calm Digimon unless someone invades his territory." Chibimon summarised quickly as he continued to grip Daisuke's hair tightly.

"I guess that's why he's angry then." Daisuke chuckled shakily before Shellmon roared loudly and pulled himself onto the beach.

" **HYDRO PRESSURE!** " Shellmon shouted as he lowered his head before firing a huge wave of water that Daisuke barely dodged.

"Stop attacking Daisuke!" Chibimon shouted as he went to attack the angry Digimon but Daisuke quickly caught him in his arms.

"Are you stupid?! You can't someone that size on!" Daisuke yelled as he started to run down the beach, forgetting his backpack and sketchbook that was still sitting on the ground.

"But I gotta protect you Daisuke! That's what I was born for! My job is to keep you safe." Chibimon proclaimed proudly causing the six-year-old to look down at him in shock.

"Chibimon..."

Daisuke suddenly screamed as something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him off his feet. Chibimon hit the ground with a thump as Daisuke's were wrapped tightly to his side by Shellmon's tentacle hair.

"Daisuke!" Chibimon yelled as Shellmon slowly tightened his grip on the small boy causing him to cry out.

"L-let me go!" Daisuke whimpered as he kicked his legs helplessly but Shellmon simply growled before he tightened his grip once more, slowly cutting off the boy's airway.

"Let him go!  **HYPER SLAM**!" Chibimon shouted before his body became a blur of blue and white that proceeded to hit Shellmon in all directions. Unfortunately, the attacks were little more than an annoyance for the Digimon and it wasn't long before Shellmon growled and slapped Chibimon to the ground with another one of his tentacles.

"Chibimon!" Daisuke screamed as he watched the small blue dragon slam to the sand harshly. Chibimon whimpered before he shakily pushed himself to his feet, his eyes scrunched up slightly in pain.

"A- **ACID BUBBLES!** " Chibimon called out before he jumped in the air and spat a mouthful of rainbow bubbles straight into Shellmon's face. One managed to pop right in his eye causing him to scream.

With a roar of annoyance, Shellmon swung his right arm up and slammed it straight into the small Digimon forcing him to once again land face first in the sand.

"No! Chibimon run away! Please!" Daisuke shouted before crying out as Shellmon tightened his hold, which had loosened slightly in his attack. To Daisuke it felt like he was being crushed, it was getting hard to breath and everything hurt.

"No!" Chibimon shouted as he forced himself up once more and stared into Daisuke's watery eyes in determination.

"No! I won't leave you, Daisuke! I'm going to save you...I'm going to save you because you're my friend!" Chibimon proclaimed loudly. Daisuke's eyes were wide in awe.

"Chibimon..." Daisuke whispered before screaming as Shellmon started squeezing him tightly. Tears rolled down the boy's cheeks as he tried to gasp for breath without success.

"Let Daisuke go!" Chibimon screamed as he prepared to charge forward once more. What none of them noticed though was the device that had fallen out of the sky, which was now attached to Daisuke's shorts, was now blinking with a bright white light.

* * *

" **ACID BUBBLES**!" Koromon shouted as he jumped in front of Taichi and spat a mouthful of rainbow straight at the red beetle Digimon. Kuwagamon hissed as they stung but they didn't do as much damage as the little Digimon hoped.

"Koromon!" Taichi shouted as he scrambled to his feet just as Kuwagamon slapped the small Digimon to the ground with a loud screech. Taichi was quick to pick him up before taking a few steps back so he was closer to the others.

"Oh, Koromon..." Taichi whispered sadly as he spotted a small but deep slash on Koromon's side, blood quickly coated Taichi's white gloves and the boy's heart clenched.

"I told you...I would protect you..." Koromon whispered with a brave smile but he couldn't help but whimper when Taichi put pressure on his side.

"What are we going to do? At this rate, he's going to kill us all." Yamato pointed out as he kept a tight grip on Takeru as Tsunomon and Tokomon stood in front of them in protection. Sora swallowed hard as she tightened her grip on Yokomon as the Digimon squirmed in her hold.

"We fight!" Motimon retorted causing Koushirou to look down at him in shock.

"Excuse me? You can't take on that thing; for goodness sake look what it did to Koromon!" Koushirou cried out as he waved his hand over to the injured Digimon, who was now squirming in Taichi's grip.

"We have to fight! Our job is to protect you; we've got to keep you safe!" Bukamon shouted seriously as Tanemon nodded in full agreement.

"You too Tanemon?!" Mimi gasped as the little green Digimon joined the rest of them slowly forming a solid wall in front of the children.

"We're not going to run anymore!" Tokomon growled as he barred his teeth and Tsunomon nodded as the two joined up with the others.

"We're going to keep you safe!" He declared proudly as Yokomon finally managed to squirm out of Sora's hold and stood beside him.

"I'm sorry Taichi..." Koromon whispered before biting down hard on the boy's hand forcing him to drop the Digimon with a yelp.

"Koromon! No!" Taichi shouted as Koromon charged forward with the other Digimon following him fearlessly.

Helplessly the children all called out, begging the Digimon to stop but the Digimon ignored their calls.

Someone didn't though.

In complete union, the devices that had fallen out of the sky started beeping loudly before flashing with bright white lights. It happened suddenly, all seven Baby Digimon suddenly started to glow a bright white before they spun in place starting off slow before picking up speed.

"Koromon...Digivolve too...AGUMON!" Koromon had now changed into a light orange dinosaur that reached Taichi's waist in height. He had claws on his three fingers and the same on his toes, his fangs were still the same but his eyes were now a dark green.

"Tsunomon...Digivolve too...GABUMON!" Tsunomon had now changed into a yellow-skinned lizard with a bluish-white pelt with navy blue markings. He had a yellow horn at the top of his head and his belly was blue with unusual pink markings.

"Yokomon...Digivolve too...BIYOMON!" Yokomon was now a small pink bird with blue-tipped feathers on her head and a ring on one of her legs. At the tip of her wings were three pink claws.

"Motimon...Digivolve too...TENTOMON!" Motimon had now changed into a ladybug. He has six legs in total, the front being long arms with grey claws at the end. He has large, green eyes and two yellow antennae reaching out from his head. His wing-case is covered with grey spines.

"Tanemon...Digivolve too...PALMON!" Tanemon had kept her plant-like appearance but now she had light green skin with purple-tipped claws. She has a pink flower with a yellow centre on her head. Finally, she has a small tail and small bumps lining her back.

"Bukamon...Digivolve too...GOMAMON!" Just like Palmon, Bukamon has kept his seal-like appearance but he has white fur, with no nose and has long ears, purple markings, orange-red mane, large claws, a short tail, and a W-shaped smile with two pointed teeth protruding out.

"Tokomon...Digivolve too...PATAMON!" Tokomon was now a small flying guinea pig-like creature with light blue eyes and bat-like wings, which could possibly be his ears. He has a short, stubby tail. His underside was a light cream colour, while his back and head are orange.

The lights soon faded away revealing the Digimon's new forms to not only the seven children present but also to Kuwagamon, who growled lowly in response.

* * *

Daisuke's eyes were wide as he watched Chibimon glow a bright white before he started to spin slowly in place. As he picked up speed Daisuke felt Shellmon loosen his grip enough for the six-year-old to breathe much easier.

"This is..." Daisuke whispered as he remembered seeing the same thing happen to Koromon two years ago.

"Chibimon...Digivolve too...V-MON!" Chibimon had now changed from a small blue dragon who could only just reach Daisuke's waist, to a humanoid lizard-like creature who seemed to be a couple of inches taller than him. His skin was still the same blue and white and his head was still large with two conical fleshy appendages attached to the back. A small horn was resting where his nose would be.

He has large, 5-fingered hands with short white claws, as well as 3-toed feet with stout claws. Finally, there was a yellow V-shaped mark between his two bright red eyes.

" **V HEADBUTT**!" V-Mon suddenly called out as the V mark on his forehead seemed to glow with an orange light, the lizard then proceeds to charge forward and ram his head straight into Shellmon's chest with a loud crunch.

Shellmon screamed as he was thrown backwards into the sea. Daisuke fell from Shellmon's grip with a cry straight into V-Mon's waiting arms.

"I told you I'd save you," V-Mon said with a cheeky smirk and despite everything, Daisuke couldn't help but giggle. Behind them, the water began to bubble.

* * *

"What?!" Joe yelped as he fell to the ground in shock.

"They...changed..." Sora pointed out weakly as the group stared at the once weak looking Digimon that had tried to protect them. Now all eight looked strong, strong enough to keep them safe.

"Digivolve...?" Taichi whispered to himself quietly as he stared at Koromon's new form. Near the cliff edge, Kuwagamon screeched in a challenge, not at all scared by his new opponents.

"Let's go." Agumon said quickly taken the leader role. The other Digimon nodded in agreement before they all charged forward straight towards Kuwagamon.

" **POSION IVY**!" Palmon as her purple claws turned into long strips of Ivy that she quickly used to wrap around Kuwagamon's waist and arms. Kuwagamon screeched again as he struggled against the Digimon's hold causing her to wince.

"I won't be able to hold him for long!" Palmon cried out as she struggled to keep her footing. Patamon and Gomamon jumped in front of her both taken huge deep breaths.

" **AIR SHOT**!"

" **WATER SHOT**!"

Patamon spat out a huge air bubble that shot through the air at an incredible speed before striking Kuwagamon in the chest causing him to flinch backwards a step.

Gomamon's attack ended up being very similar to Patamon's but instead of being air he spat out water bubble that struck Kuwagamon on the chest as wall causing him to screech as he backed away once more.

Palmon suddenly then let go of the beetle Digimon just as Tentomon started charging electricity between his wings.

" **PETIT THUNDER**!" He shouted just before taken full advantage of Kuwagamon's soaked set and blasted him with a small thunderbolt. The water was quick to conduct the electricity and Kuwagamon screeched as he shook for a second before shaking it off.

Completely furious Kuwagamon growled before he slashed his claws as the group of Digimon causing them to jump back.

"A-amazing..." Koushirou whispered as the group continued to watch the group of Digimon fight to protect them.

"They're actually beating him..." Taichi pointed out in shock as Kuwagamon tried to slash at the Digimon once more without success.

"Ready?" Agumon questioned as Gabumon and Biyomon quickly jumped to his side with determined nods. Agumon slowly took a deep breath as he allowed gas to build up in the back of his throat.

" **BABY FLAME**!" He growled before allowing the gas to light and blasting a small but powerful fireball straight towards the beetle Digimon.

" **PETIT FIRE**!" Gabumon shouted before a spray of blue fire, looking very similar to water, blasted from the back of his throat. Biyomon flapped her wings as she hovered in the air as they seemed to glow a light green.

" **MAGICAL FIRE**!" She shouted as a bright grin twister of fire appeared in between her flapping wings and shot off straight towards Kuwagamon.

The baby flame was the first to strike Kuwagamon but the Petit Fire wasn't far behind causing the Digimon to screech. When Magical Fire struck in the same spot he didn't have a chance to react before his entire chest burst into flames.

With a loud and piercing scream Kuwagamon threw himself off the cliff and a couple of seconds later the children heard the loud splash of him falling into the fast paced river below.

The seven Digimon stayed tense for a couple of seconds, waiting to see if Kuwagamon would make a return, but when all stayed silent they relaxed and looked back towards the children. It was silent before they all charged forward with cheers and smiles.

"That was amazing! I can't believe you managed to beat him!" Taichi laughed as he pulled Agumon into a tight hug that the dinosaur Digimon was more than happy to return. Taichi blinked as his hand touched Agumon's side though and felt cold skin.

"Hey what happened to your cut?" Taichi questioned as he pulled back and lifted Agumon's arm to take a look for himself. All that was left now though was a faded scar, as if the wound had happened many weeks ago.

"It's because of you Taichi! I was healed when I got strong, and it was all because of you!" Agumon explained with a grin as Taichi allowed his arm to drop back to his side.

"Because of me?"

"It's because you believe it us," Biyomon explained softly as she hugged Sora's leg with her wings. The girl blinked as she petted the bird Digimon's head lightly.

"I don't understand. Why are we so important to you?" Sora questioned as she looked around at all the Digimon who were now getting a different type of congratulations from the children.

"Well, that's because you're our partners. We've already explained this to you." Tentomon buzzed as he flies around Koushirou's head happily.

"Partners?" Taichi questioned but before Agumon could answer the cliff gave a forcibly shake sending the kids to the ground. Taichi stayed low as he looked around cautiously trying to spot what had made them fall.

"Are you alright, Takeru?" Yamato asked as he quickly scanned his Otōto for injuries and breathed a quiet sigh when he realised he was fine. But then he frowned when Takeru didn't answer him.

"Takeru? What's the matter?" Yamato demanded as he saw the small blonde staring at the ground not far from them with terrified blue eyes. The boy shook in fear as he pointed ahead of him.

"Onii-chan…" He whimpered. Yamato barely was able to hold back a scream as he spotted the cause for the shake attack seconds ago. Starting from one edge of the cliff and running to the other side was a very long line. The cliff shook once more and the line quickly became a crack that started to get bigger.

"Grab hold of somebody!" Yamato shouted as he threw himself over Takeru just as the crack split in half, sending the small edge that the children were sitting on into the air.

Gravity took hold in a matter of seconds and the children found themselves screaming as they fell down towards the rushing river far below them.

'Daisuke!' Taichi thought desperately to himself just as the whole group crashed into the river with a loud splash.

* * *

The peaceful moment between Daisuke and V-Mon was shattered when Shellmon burst from the sea with a furious roar.

"Get back Daisuke!" V-Mon ordered as he jumped in front of his smaller partner but before either of the two could react Shellmon lowered his head slightly revealing a small hole that was right in the middle of his head.

" **HYDRO PRESSURE**!" Shellmon shouted before blasting the two with a powerful wave of water that sent them flying into the sand. Daisuke coughed as he tried to rub the water from his eyes.

"V-Mon?" Daisuke whimpered as his vision finally cleared. The blue reptile though was unconscious completely soaked to the bone. Shellmon decided to take full advantage of V-Mon's injured state and grabbed the two in a tight tentacle grip.

"Let me go! V-Mon!" Daisuke shouted as he struggled to try to get to his injured friend but Shellmon simply growled. He slowly spun his head around before tossing his hair off to the right and releasing his grip on both Daisuke and V-Mon.

Daisuke screamed as he and V-Mon flew through the air but he was cut off when he crashed into the ocean with a loud splash.

Daisuke held a hand to his mouth as he held his breath, the water surrounded him threatening to end his life as he tried to swim to the surface. He couldn't bring the energy though and his desperate attempts to reach the surface started to slow down.

'Aniki...help me...'

**To be continued...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Translations**  
>  - **Otōto** (弟, Little Brother) – _The term used for little or younger brother._  
>  - **Aniki** (お兄さん, Older Brother) - _The term used for Older or Big brother._  
>  - **Okaa/Kaa** (母, {Respected} Mother) - _The term used for one's mother._  
>  - **Otou/Tou** (父, {Respected} Father) – _The term used for one's father._  
>  - **Onee/Nee** (姉, {Respected} Elder Sister) – _Term used for a respected older sister._  
>  - **Onii/Nii** (兄弟, {Respected} Elder Brother) – _Term used for a respected older brother._  
>  - **Senpai** (先輩, Upperclassman) – _Used for one's senior (colleague, fellow student) or more generally somebody in the same social class but superior to you (ex, 'Kunou-sempai')_  
>  - **Kiseki** (奇跡, Miracle)  
>  -  
>  **Digimon Levels**  
>  **Fresh** – _Fresh Digimon are ones that have only just hatched from their Digieggs. They're harmless and weak, their attacks doing little more than tickle you._  
>  **Baby** – _Baby Digimon are the next the Digimon Digivolve into too. They now have more unique features and their attacks patch a bit more punch. They're still weak against Digimon who are a higher level than them though._  
>  **Child** – _Digimon who reach Child levels are now much bigger and more colourful, with friendship and love a Chosen Digimon will stay in their child form as long as they are not fighting. Their attacks can now do actual damage but if the Digimon is a higher level is won't do any good._  
>  **Adult** – _The Adult form of a Digimon is a form that every Digimon can reach after a lot of work. They are normally much bigger in size, but some do stay small, and they're attacks are incredibly strong._  
>  **Perfect** – _The Perfect form of a Digimon is a nearly impossible form to make without the help of a Chosen Child. With the help of their crests the Chosen Digimon are nearly unbeatable in power and strength, but if forced to Digivolve then it will have terrible consequences for both the Chosen Digimon and the Chosen Child._  
>  **Ultimate** – _An Ultimate level Digimon is almost on par to the Digimon Gods when it comes to power. They are incredible in both strength and appearance but the power is hard to control and not many Digimon can keep themselves sane when they reach this level. Only training and determination will keep a Digimon strong enough to fight the power that all Digimon crave._  
>  -  
>  **Ages**  
>  \- **Daisuke Yagami** – Age 6/Grade 1 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Hikari Yagami** – Age 8/Grade 3 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Takeru Takaishi** – Age 8/Grade 3 ( _Kawada Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Mimi Tachikawa** – Age 10/Grade 5 ( _Kagurazaka Girls' Academy_ )  
> \- **Koushirou Izumi** – Age 10/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Taichi Yagami** – Age 11/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Yamato Ishida** – Age 11/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Sora Takenouchi** \- Age 11/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Joe Kido** – Age 12/Grade 1 ( _Odaiba Junior High School_ )  
> 


	4. Arc 1: Episode 2 - Explosive Evolution! Greymon and V-Dramon are born!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's officially decided then! Daisuke will be receiving the other Virtue this season and in 02 will be when he claims the Miracle Virtue. Thank you so much for giving your opinion guys, to have so many people willing to help me with this is so heart-warming. To those who did want Daisuke to have Miracles as Daisuke's crest don't panic, I promise you Daisuke will still be connected to the power of Miracles, he just won't be getting the crest until 02.
> 
> Before I let you get to the story I just want to explain something about V-Mon and Daisuke. Yes, V-Mon is the same age as the other Chosen Children's Digimon, and yes he knows just as much about the world as they do. But his partner is 6 years old. I believe that Digimon adapt to how their partner's act, take Patamon for example; in Adventure, he's more mature than Takeru but also still willing to enjoy himself along with his partner. In 02, on the other hand, Takeru is the mature one of the two and Patamon is the childish one.
> 
> This situation is the same, V-Mon will be the more mature one until Daisuke gets more experience and then he will turn into the V-Mon we all know and love.
> 
> Also if you're wondering what I'm doing with V-Mon's evolution line then please remember that Daisuke has two crests. I've never read the V-Tamer Manga but I know enough to know that V-Dramon is perfect for the crest Daisuke is receiving in this part of the story.
> 
> XV-Mon will be making an appearance but not until 02 when Daisuke finally gets his Crest of Miracles.
> 
> With that I would like you all to enjoy and please review ^_^
> 
>  **27/06/15** – Why did no one tell me I had got Daisuke's introduction wrong?! Didn't anyone notice that I called him Motomiya instead of Yagami?
> 
>  **12/07/15** – Thanks to Sulphur99 for giving me tips on my translations. This chapter has been read through and I've corrected the mistakes I caught. There still might be some though.

_“V-Mon?” Daisuke whimpered as his vision finally cleared. The blue reptile though was unconscious completely soaked to the bone. Shellmon decided to take full advantage of V-Mon’s injured state and grabbed the two in a tight tentacle grip._

_“Let me go! V-Mon!” Daisuke shouted as he struggled to try to get to his injured friend but Shellmon simply growled. He slowly spun his head around before tossing his hair off to the right and releasing his grip on both Daisuke and V-Mon._

_Daisuke screamed as he and V-Mon flew through the air but he was cut off when he crashed into the ocean with a loud splash._

Water surrounded him, blocking his ears and making his eyes burn horribly. Daisuke barely managed to push himself to the surface with a desperate gasp of air.

“V-Mon! V-Mon!” Daisuke called out as he tried to stay above the water. The waves of the sea were vicious and were determined to claim him though. Daisuke coughed as he came back up once more but this time he heard someone else gasp beside him.

“Daisuke!” V-Mon shouted as he coughed up a mouthful of water before quickly swimming to his six-year-old partner. Daisuke choked as he went under another wave before V-Mon got hold of his arm and pulled him close.

“I’ve got you Daisuke,” V-Mon reassured as Daisuke shook and coughed in his arms.

“I-I can’t s-swim so good V-Mon.” Daisuke admitted shamefully as his body shivered from the cold and he knew V-Mon wouldn’t be able to keep hold of him forever. Another wave crashed into them hard enough to send them spinning under the water.

V-Mon eyes widened in shock as he realised he lost his partner in the chaos and quickly searched the water finding him sinking not far from him completely unconscious. Cursing himself quietly V-Mon swam down and wrapped his arms around Daisuke’s waist and tried to swim to the surface.

But it was getting hard to move, Daisuke was weighing him down and his lungs were burning with his need to breathe. V-Mon found his vision blurring and just as he was about to let go of his breath something huge and yellow burst through the water and grabbed him and Daisuke.

It was all too much for V-Mon and just as he was forced to the surface he finally lost his fight with consciousness. Daisuke’s warmth as V-Mon held him in his arms was the last sensation he felt before he fell into the blackness.

* * *

 

_“Grab hold of somebody!” Yamato shouted as he threw himself over Takeru just as the crack split in half, sending the small edge that the children were sitting on into the air._

_Gravity took hold in a matter of seconds and the children found themselves screaming as they fell down towards the rushing river far below them._

“Onii-chan!” Takeru screamed as he felt himself coming loose from Yamato’s hold but the older blonde quickly grabbed hold of his wrist just as a set of claws grabbed hold of his shoulders.

“I got you, Takeru!” Yamato called as he held Gabumon tightly under his free arm. Behind Takeru Patamon desperately flapped his wings trying to keep the two boys and Gabumon afloat in the air but he didn’t have the strength.

Further down Sora’s scream was cut short as she was jolted in the air. Though her descent hadn’t completely stopped she had slowed down quite a bit.

“Don’t worry Sora! I won’t let you fall.” Biyomon reassured even as she strained to keep them both in the air. Despite herself, Sora couldn’t help but feel her heart give an unexpected thrum.

Taichi and Agumon landed in the river with a loud splash, quickly Taichi grabbed hold of the dinosaur’s claw and pulled them to the surface. Both coughed as they heard someone else splash into the water with them.

“Are you alright?” Taichi coughed and Agumon nodded as he kept a tight grip on Taichi’s gloved hand.

“ **AQUA NET**!” They heard just before the water started to bubble around them. To their shock, the water suddenly formed a strong, but wet, raft that somehow seemed to hold them up.

“What?!” Joe cried out in completely shocked as he looked around himself in a panicked frenzy. Taichi and Agumon scooted back as the others quickly landed on their makeshift raft with splashing thumps.

“How is this possible? It’s like the water has become a solid matter but when I touch it, it still feels like a liquid.” Koushirou mused as he ran his hand around him before lifting it in the air and watching in fascination as water dripped from his fingers.

“Water is my element. There’s nothing I can’t do with it!” Gomamon boasted as he easily swam in the raging river along side of the group with a grin.

“Don’t get too close to the edge, Takeru.” Yamato warned as he pulled Takeru into the middle of the raft causing the 8-year-old to pout. Not far from them Mimi sat with her legs pulled to her chest as she nibbled on her lip.

“My hair will lose its shine if I stay near the water too long,” Mimi whined as she reached up to pull her hat down further on her head. Beside her, Palmon patted her knee in sympathy.

“I suffer from travel sickness, are we near land yet? I think I’m going to throw up.” Joe groaned as he held his stomach and the kids scooted away from him slightly just in case. Gomamon rolled his eyes before something caught his attention not far ahead.

“Don’t worry Joe! The river is slowing down so we can jump off at that bank up ahead.” Gomamon pointed out as Tentomon buzzed above him to get a closer look.  Sure enough, the fast paced river did slow down and with Gomamon’s careful guidance the water raft pulled up towards the bank allowing them all to jump off.

“Well, I guess I should say thank you uh...?” Joe hinted and Gomamon grinned as he patted his chest with one of his flippers.

“I’m Gomamon now.”

“So you’ve completely changed to a different being now?” Koushirou asked but Tentomon was quick to shake his head slightly

“It’s a bit more complicated than that Koushiro- _Han._ We’re still the same just different. I was Motimon but now I’m Tentomon.”

“We Digivolved!” Agumon grinned showing off his sharper fangs as he looked up at Taichi with pure adoration.

“Digivolve?” Taichi questioned as he looked at the orange dinosaur in confusion. It was Tentomon who answered him though as he buzzed above the children’s heads.

“When we gain enough experience and power then we can Digivolve. Digivolution helps us reach the next level in terms of power. As Motimon I was a Baby Level Digimon but now I’m Tentomon, a Child Level Digimon.” Tentomon summarised. Koushirou hummed as he rubbed his chin in thought.

“So that means that you’re more powerful now as Tentomon when compared to before when you were Motimon.”

“That’s right. It’s the same for the rest of us as well. At Baby Level I was Yokomon but now I’m Biyomon.” The pink bird Digimon said as she gestured to herself and the other Digimon quickly followed her example.

“First, I was Tsunomon but now I’m Gabumon.” The lizard Digimon greeted as Patamon rested easily on top of his head.

“I went from Tokomon to Patamon.”

“I was a Tanemon but now I’m Palmon.” The Ivy Digimon explained to her partner as she blushed ever so slightly.

“I went from Koromon to Agumon and it was all because of you Taichi,” Agumon admitted causing the brunet to blink in shock.

“Me? What did I do?” The boy questioned as he pointed to himself and Agumon grinned as he pointed to the scar that was on his side.

“I explained this earlier, remember? It thanks to you that I was able to become so strong. Your belief in me allowed me to borrow some of your power. That’s what’s made us Digivolve so easily.”

“My power? But I didn’t feel anything.” Taichi murmured as he looked down at his glove which was partly stained with Koromon’s blood, the river hadn’t managed to wash it all away and Taichi knew it wouldn’t come out now it had dried.

“We didn’t take much and you have so much power inside of you, you wouldn’t notice if we had taken more.” Gomamon chuckled causing Biyomon to whack him round the head with her wing.

“Not that we would. You’re our partners and we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.” She reassured with a smile.

“Biyomon…” Sora muttered still not used to the adoration the Digimon had for her.

“Right what are we going to do now?” Yamato asked the question that everyone was thinking. The children fell silent before Joe suddenly sighed.

“If only there was a payphone nearby, then we would be able to call someone to come get us,” Joe said.

“But we don’t even know where we are!” Taichi pointed out sharply and Sora quickly held up her hands in a placid manner.

“Calm down. At least we know where we started off.” Sora reassured and Takeru grinned as he pointed behind him.

“Up on the cliff!”

“So should we backtrack or go forward?” Yamato questioned and Sora shrugged.

“Well I was always taught to stay in the same place if I got lost but I don’t think going back up there is a good idea. What if that big bug comes back?” She pointed out before Taichi grinned with his hands resting behind his head.

“Plus staying in the same place is stupid. It’s easier to go look for them.” Taichi said simply. Sora scoffed before she gave her friend a dry look.

“That’s also the reason why your Okaa-san kept you in a harness till you were 8.”

“So we go forward then?” Koushirou confirmed and the children all nodded in agreement

“Let’s follow the river! Eventually, we’ll reach the seaside there.” Gomamon suggested and the other Digimon all grinned.

“That’s a good idea, Gomamon.” Gabumon praised causing the white seal Digimon to puff his chest out slightly in pride.

“Is no one going to question why there is the seaside so close to a mountain range?” Joe demanded but sighed when he realised he was being ignored.

Together the group of children and Digimon headed off, unknowing going in the opposite direction to their astray companion.

* * *

It was the feeling of a weight resting on his chest that woke Daisuke from his sleep. He groaned as he felt his ears pop, allowing him to hear the soft whispers that echoed around him.

_“What do you think he is?”_

_“I don’t know. He’s strange looking.”_

_“Wonder why Leomon saved him?”_

Daisuke groaned again before he forced himself to open his eyes. It was a struggle, it felt like they were stuck together by glue, but eventually, he managed to reveal his mocha coffee eyes.

There were three yellow blogs around him, two on either side him and another on his chest. It took a while before his vision focused properly but when it did he gasped and scooted backwards fearfully.

“Hey! What was that for?” The yellow blob that had been on his chest whined as it pushed itself up, having fallen backwards when Daisuke moved away.

As Daisuke looked at them he quickly realised they were literally balls of yellow goo, they didn’t have any hands or legs and their bodies moved like jelly. The only features they did have were their bright red eyes and huge smiles.

“Who are you?” Daisuke demanded shakily as he pulled his legs to his chest. He saw that he was resting in a strange hut that seemed to be made of mud and leaves. Daisuke himself was resting on a rock completely covered in soft green moss.

The three coloured blobs looked at each other before looking back at Daisuke with huge smiles.

“We’re Zurumon!”

“Zurumon?” Daisuke questioned before flinching slightly as one of the Zurumon decided to rub up against his side. Despite having a slimy appearance the small Digimon felt strangely solid. It took a couple of seconds for Daisuke to relax enough to stroke Zurumon’s head slightly causing it to purr.

Daisuke quickly realised the one attached to his side was actually the smallest of the three, it’s form wasn’t as big as the others and it was the way it approached Daisuke without fear that made the 6-year-old think it must be very young.

“That’s right! This is our home, Lion Heart Village.” Another Zurumon explained as it bounced slightly. This one sounded slightly feminine and while being the biggest of the three it’s form was slimmer than the other two.

“We’ve never seen anything like you before. What kind of Digimon are you?” The third Zurumon demanded loudly in a scratchy deep voice. Unlike the other two, this Zurumon seemed to be full of energy, unable to stay in place and constantly moving from Daisuke’s resting place to floor.

“I’m not a Digimon, I’m a kid. I’m Yagami Daisuke and I’m 6.” Daisuke introduced himself with a grin just as he was taught to do. He knew it was polite to introduce yourself when meeting strangers to make a good impression.

The Zurumon gasped in awe as they stared at Daisuke as if he was the greatest discovery they had ever made. Daisuke worried his lip as he looked around the hut unable to spot his new found partner with him.

“Um, have you seen my friend? He’s a blue dragon Digimon with a yellow V mark between his eyes.” Daisuke questioned nervously hoping that V-Mon had been saved from the sea like he has.

“Oh! You mean V-Mon.” The eldest Zurumon grinned,

“Yeah, we know him!” The middle Zurumon shouted seemingly unable to actually turn his voice down to a respectable level.

“He’s out-”

“What are you 3 doing in here?! You were told to leave the boy alone!” A stern voice suddenly called out from the doorway causing the three Zurumon to flinch fearfully.

Daisuke looked up curiously to see yet another Digimon standing in a small gap that worked as a door. This one looked like a cross between a dinosaur and a rabbit, it was walking on four legs and its face was kind of flat. It had bushy fur though that seemed to be a mix between red and orange, stripes of blue also covered its frame.  Finally coming out of its tail bone was eight long tails that looked similar to feathers.

“Master Elecmon!” The three Zurumon yelped as the Mammal Digimon seemed to tap his foot repeatedly on the ground, his expression clearly stating what it thought about the actions of the Slime Digimon.

“How about we make a deal? You go and do your choirs and I won’t tell Chief Leomon of all the pranks you’ve pulled while he’s been gone. Hmm?” Elecmon suggested in a wise but masculine voice and Daisuke watched as the Zurumon seemed to pale slightly.

“Yes, Master Elecmon!” They cried out before they quickly slid out through the doorway so fast it made Elecmon’s tail ruffle slightly. Elecmon chuckled before he walked over to where Daisuke was sitting and smiled up at the boy.

“Hello, Daisuke. I’m glad to see you’ve finally awakened, your partner has been waiting anxiously for you since your arrival here.” Elecmon said with a soft smile. Daisuke was quick to jump to his feet in excitement.

“You mean V-Mon’s okay?” Daisuke cried out to the small Digimon that only came up to Daisuke’s waist in height. Elecmon nodded before he turned to walk towards the door once more.

“Follow me and I’ll take you to him,” Elecmon called and Daisuke was quick to follow the surprisingly fast Digimon. As he slipped through the doorway of the hut Daisuke’s eyes widened in awe as he finally got a good look at the village.

The village sat in a clear patch right in the middle of a forest, Daisuke could see trees surrounding the place in a circle. Huts made of leaves and mud sat all around the edges and in the middle sat a small pond with clear blue water.

“Oh wow,” Daisuke whispered as he saw Zurumons and Elecmons running around doing different choirs or just playing together.

“Welcome to Lion Heart Village, young human.” Master Elecmon said as he looked over the village with proud eyes. Daisuke smiled as he bent down to pet a small Zurumon that had bumped into his ankle with a squeak.

“Why is it called that?” Daisuke questioned in curiosity as he watched the Zurumon return with its playmates.

“It is to honour the protector of this world,” Elecmon explained but just as Daisuke goes to ask another question he hears a gasp.

“Daisuke! You’re awake!” The six-year-old spun around with a huge grin and quickly spotted the familiar blue dragon Digimon.

“V-Mon!” Daisuke shouted as he ran forward before throwing himself straight into V-Mon’s waiting arms, hugging his partner tightly.

“I’m so glad you’re alright, Daisuke! I was so worried when you didn’t wake up.” V-Mon whispered as he lifted Daisuke off his feet. Daisuke didn’t protest, in fact, when V-Mon put him down Daisuke jumped on the Digimon’s back instead.

“Thank you for taking care of him, Master Elecmon.” V-Mon said in gratitude to the smaller Digimon as he slipped his arms underneath Daisuke’s legs. Daisuke grinned as he wrapped his arms loosely around V-Mon’s neck before bowing his head slightly.

“Thank you, Master Elecmon.”

“Stay for a bit longer, young V-Mon. The forest isn’t safe and with the protector away it’s best to stay within the village boundaries.” Master Elecmon suggested but V-Mon knew it wasn’t a request.

“Thanks,” V-Mon replied simply with a smile and with that master Elecmon turned away from the two and returned to his duties.

“What do you want to do now Daisuke? Are you feeling alright or do you want to lay down?” V-Mon asked his partner but Daisuke stayed silent as he spotted something. The three Zurumon who had awoken him were struggling to get a small clay pot to the pond, obviously trying to get some water.

“I think we should repay them,” Daisuke replied before wiggling back down to the floor. V-Mon blinked before looking at his partner in confusion.

“Repay them?”

“Yeah! They did take care of us, so let’s repay them for it!” Daisuke grinned before he ran over to the three Zurumon and lifted the small pot easily from them.

“Hey! Don’t take that!” The eldest one scolded but it fell silent when it realised that Daisuke was walking closer to the pond.

“You’re trying to get water, right? Well then let me help you. You did make me better after all.” Daisuke said simply. The three Zurumon traded a look before they cheered and bounced around Daisuke’s ankles.

Not far V-Mon watched from afar with a smile before he went to help another Zurumon who was also trying to get water.

Master Elecmon watched as the two helped out the others with their choirs and shook his head with a smile. The Village is usually quiet and sad with the protector gone but those two had somehow managed to bring back the smiles that had disappeared.

“What a lovely sound.” Master Elecmon whispered to himself as he closed his eyes and allowed the sounds of his village laughing to surround him.

* * *

They hadn’t been walking for long but already the differences to their home were obvious, the trees were thick with life and the leaves were coloured blue and green. The bushes and flowers were all strange looking, some even seemed to be breathing as they walked past.

“What strange trees, I’ve never seen anything like them before,” Sora whispered as she pressed her hand against one with glowing blue leaves, watching as her hand sunk through it like water.

“It’s weird, my allergies aren’t acting up so their obviously not given off any pollen.” Joe pointed out as he carefully walked while cleaning his glasses.

“I wonder if it actually gets dark here.” Mimi wondered absently as she gracefully stepped over a mud puddle, squeaking as he jumped onto a stray root to avoid another one.

“Don’t be ridiculous, that phenomenon would be unnatural,” Koushirou grunted as he kept close to Taichi and Agumon, with Tentomon buzzing near his head.

“What part of this is natural to you?” Yamato demanded as he shifted his grip on Takeru, who he had pulled onto his back when he saw the amount of rocks and branches that the 8-year-old could trip on.

“We’re almost there!” Gomamon called out suddenly from where he had been happily swimming in the river beside them.

“How can you tell?” Patamon wondered from where he sat on Gabumon’s head and Gomamon puffed his chest out.

“I’m Gomamon! Anything to do with water, and I can control.” The seal said cockily causing Biyomon to snort from where she was walking beside Sora.

“And yet when it’s bath time you’re never to be seen.” She chided before bringing her wing up to avoid being splashed by a small wave of water.

“Look! There it is!” Palmon shouted as she pointed ahead of them. The children blinked in shock as they saw the forest very suddenly cut off and turned into a beautiful beach with a bright blue sea.

Gomamon quickly swam down the final few laps of the river before jumping straight onto the sand with a loud cheer.

“This is amazing.” Sora breathed in shock as she bent down and touched the sand softly with her fingers feeling the warmth just from a simple touch.

“The weather condition is different here than the forest. It was damp and cold in there but suddenly it’s hot, it’s strange.” Koushirou grumbled in slight frustration as the Digital World seemed to be turning all his theories upside down.

“Hey, do you hear that?” Taichi suddenly asked as he heard a faint sound from behind the waves. Everyone fell silent before they heard it together.

“It’s a phone!” Yamato said in astonishment as the noise became louder and clearer, what they were hearing was defiantly the ringing of a public payphone.

“But where’s it coming from?” Joe questioned before Mimi gasped and pointed to something further down the beach near the sea edge.

“There!” The children all turned to where Mimi was pointing and their eyes widened in shock. Sitting near the edge of the beach, just avoiding the water, was seven public payphones.

“See it’s just like I said, all we need is a payphone to call for help!” Joe shouted in almost hysterical relief as the group started running across the sand towards the phones. Taichi and Agumon were the first ones to reach it but as soon as Taichi touched the phone the ringing stopped.

“Why did it stop, Taichi?” Agumon questioned as Taichi put the phone to his ear to hear the dial tone before hanging up.

“Guess we missed it.” Taichi shrugged simply before digging into his pocket and pulling out some coins before once again picking up the receiver.

“I want to try too. Maybe I can get through to Okaa-san.” Sora mumbled before she went to the next payphone and slipped open the door, digging out her purse from her trouser pocket. As the others started following her example Taichi dialled the familiar number of his home and waited.

“Hello? Kaa-san? It’s me, Taichi.” Taichi called out eagerly as soon as he heard someone pick up but his face fell as soon as someone answered on the other side.

_"¿Hola? ¿Quién es este? Juan es que usted? ¿Te das cuenta de lo tarde que es ?!"_

“I guess there’s a connection problem.” Taichi assumed as he looked at Agumon who shrugged as his partner hung up the phone.

“Okaa-san? Okaa-san? It’s me Sora. Are you alright?” Sora called down the phone as someone picked up her phone but she ended up having the same problems as Taichi.

_"Sora? Wer ist dieser Sora von dem Sie sprechen? Ich heiße Frank und Sie nur ein sehr wichtiges Treffen unterbrochen!"_

Frightened Sora quickly hung up the phone to get away from the shouting foreign man before releasing a deep sigh.

“Are you alright, Sora?” Biyomon questioned as she placed a wing on her leg and Sora smiled down at the Digimon in reassurance.

“I’m alright. Is anyone else having any luck?” Sora called out as she walked out of the booth to join Taichi in the sand.

“Nope,” Yamato called from where he and Takeru were sharing and a booth, looking bored as he held the phone away from his ear. Even from the distance both Taichi and Sora could hear someone screaming from down the phone.

_"-Просто ждать, пока я доберусь до тебя, Хэмиш! Вы будете сожалеть говорить ко мне нравится! Я сделаю вас нет очистите киосков, пока ваши руки кровоточили!-"_

“I just keep getting a load of music. I think they put me on hold.” Mimi pouted as she fiddled with the wire connecting her phone to the hook.

“ _I think I called the wrong number. I’m sorry for bothering you_.” Koushirou spoke in English as he hung the phone with a frustrated sigh. He shook his head as he joined the others in the sand.

By now everyone had given up except Joe who was running back and forth between the Payphones hoping to get one that works.

“Maybe this time?” Joe mumbled as he prepared to dial up another number.

“So is anyone else starting to think we should get Joe-senpai away from the phones?” Sora asked as she watched the Junior High Student-run back and forth in a hysterical fashion.

“No matter how many times he tries, those phones are not going to work,” Yamato grumbled as he watched Takeru play with the Digimon in the sand not too far away.

“I’m hungry,” Mimi whined as she rubbed her rumbling stomach. Koushirou flushed as his own stomach gave off a loud rumble.

“I don’t have anything on me. The only thing I have is my purse and…this thing that fell out the sky?” Sora questioned as she pulled off the device from her belt and looked at it in confusion.

“What are these anyway?” Taichi questioned as he lifted his shirt to look at his own, which was attached to the belt around his shorts.

“We wouldn’t have them if they weren’t important, right?” Yamato pointed out as he held his in gloved hand and the others nodded in agreement.

“I haven’t got any food either. All I’ve got is my laptop, my camera and a small cell phone but none of its worked since we got here.” Koushirou said as he hugged his bag close to his chest. Taichi couldn’t help but throw a questioning look at the younger boy beside him.

“Why would you bring all that to Summer Camp?”

“Well, what do you have on you, Taichi-san _?”_ Koushirou retorted and the brunet shrugged as he pulled out his mini spyglass and wallet.

“The rest of the stuff Kaa-san packed for us is in Daisuke’s backpack. It was just easier that way seeing as he never goes anywhere without it.” Taichi admitted as he shoved his stuff back into his pocket wishing he had grabbed at least a couple of snacks to carry instead of making Daisuke hold it.

“I’ve only got my wallet,” Yamato admitted just before he caught Takeru as the little boy threw himself into his chest with a giggle.

“Look what I’ve got!” Takeru cried out as he pulled off his backpack and opened it up to reveal it was stack full of sweets, sodas and chips. Generally, all things parents want kids to stop eating.

“Takeru! Where did all that come from?” Yamato demanded as he tried to work out how Takeru snuck all that by his Okaa-san _._

“I’ve been saving up for a long time. Every time I brought something, I would always save a bit so I could take lots away with me to camp!” Takeru answered brightly as he passed a bag of chips and a can of soda to everyone.

“What have you got Mimi? Anything useful?” Sora asked as she carefully opened her bag of chips and ate with a happy sound. Mimi hummed as she removed her pink bag from her shoulder and placed it in front of her.

“Honestly I haven’t looked in here yet, my Tou-chan packed it for me. Let’s see I’ve got a compass, cooking fuel, a flashlight, one of those knives with all the gadgets on and also a first aid kid.” Mimi said as she placed all the stuff in the sand in front of her.

“Of course I’ve also got my hairbrush, my purse and my personal cell phone.”

“Why didn’t you say you had a compass earlier?!” Yamato demanded in irritation as he clenched his fist tightly around his soda can.

“It’s broken. I dropped my bag when I was getting off the bus and it smashed.” Mimi answered simply as she clapped her hands to rid them off crumbs.

“Well, at least if we find some real food we’ll have a way to cook it.” Sora pointed out causing Taichi and Yamato to nod in agreement. Despite loving junk food they knew it wasn’t something they would be able to survive off of, especially if help wasn’t coming anytime soon. Taichi sighed as he crunched down another chip before he looked over at Joe, who was still at the phones.

“Joe-san _!_ Come and eat something before you pass out!” Taichi called out to his senior who glared at him over his shoulders.

“It’s rude to interrupt someone on the phone! Besides that’s all sugar, I can’t eat that stuff!” Joe grumbled before going back to the phone and trying another number.

“Joe-san _’s_ not diabetic right?” Koushirou questioned in worry but blinked when Taichi snorted while Sora shook her head with a dry smile.

“No. He just thinks that the stuff in the junk food will kill him he eats just one bite.” Sora explained simply and Koushirou nodded as he sipped the last drops of his soda.

“He’s trying to call the telephone repairman now.” Taichi pointed out as he rolled his eyes in frustration. Sora sighed as she shrugged her shoulders.

“You know how Joe-sempai is when he panics Tai. It’s easier to let it run it’s-?!”

“Look!” Taichi suddenly cried out as he spotted something hanging over Joe’s shoulders and resting on his waist. Sora eyes widened in shock as she realised the bag looked very familiar, she gasped though when Joe turned just enough to reveal a small red cross printed on the flap of the bag.

“Joe-sempai has got the emergency food!” Sora pointed out get the attention of all the other kids who looked over in curiosity.

“Joe-sempai! Joe-sempai!” Koushirou called out causing Joe to give a restrained yell of frustration as he glared at his younger friends.

“What did I just say? I’m busy so leave me alone!”

“But Joe-san that bag you’ve got. Isn’t that the emergency supplies from Camp?” Taichi demanded and Joe sighed as he hung up the phone before walking over to the group.

“Of course it is. I was assigned as Cabin Manager as such it’s my job to watch the emergency supplies for our Cabin.” He explained as he sat down on the ground before pulling out a bag full of medical supplies and another bag full of crackers, water and dried fruit.

“Well, at least we’re not going to starve now.” Yamato pointed out as he helped Takeru add his collection of sweets in the middle of the group with the rest of the food. Koushirou did a quick count of the food and water before nodding his head.

“If we’re careful there should be enough to feed all of us, Digimon included, for about 5 days.” Koushirou calculated as the Digimon made their way back over to the group.

“Don’t add us to calculations Koushirou-han.” Tentomon buzzed as he flew over to the group and landed next to the small red-headed boy with a small thump.

“What do you mean Tentomon?”

“We’re capable of feeding ourselves you know. We may have been small but we did live before you lot come here.” Gomamon snorted and despite him being rude Biyomon nodded in agreement.

“We can find our own food. You keep that for yourselves.” She stated firmly and Sora blinked thrown completely by the Digimon’s strange sacrifice.

“Biyomon…”

“Here Agumon. You can the rest of my chips if you want.” Taichi offered as he held out his half empty bag waiting for the orange Dinosaur to cup his hands together in front of him.

“A-Are you sure Taichi? I can find my own food you know. I don’t want you wasting it on me.” Agumon objected as he looked at the small pile of chips that was now gathered in his hands. Taichi scoffed before taking a big gulp from his soda before answering.

“Don’t be stupid. You saved me from that bug earlier on, it would be pretty jerkish of me if I don’t pay you back somehow.” Taichi pointed out before he sighed as Agumon still looked worried.

“Well think of it this way then, it’s just going to go to waste if you don’t eat it. I don’t like BBQ flavour.” Agumon liked that idea much better, after all, he was helping Taichi by stopping him from wasting food. With that thought Agumon happily gobbled down the remaining chips, wondering to himself why Taichi didn’t like the flavour. They were delicious.

Taichi looked away from the Digimon just in time to catch Sora smiling at him having watched him giving up his portion of the food for his Digimon. Taichi blinked before looking away in embarrassment, he never liked it when Sora caught him doing something nice for someone else. She always gave him this strange look that made him feel weird.

Sitting next to Yamato Gabumon awoke from his short nap as a scent brushed passed his nose. Sniffing Gabumon got to his feet and followed the trail to a small pile of sand just behind Taichi.

“What are you doing Gabumon?” Yamato called as he followed his Digimon who was still sniffing the air. Taichi blinked as he got to his feet before looking in the direction Gabumon was sniffing just in time to see something catch the light.

“What’s that?” Taichi questioned as he jogged over to the small pile of sand with Gabumon not far behind him. Easily brushing off the sand Taichi’s eyes widened in shock as he pulled out a very familiar looking backpack and sketchbook.

“Tai?” Sora questioned as she ran up to Taichi with Yamato following not far behind her. Her eyes widened though as she spotted the sketchbook on the ground and quickly bent down to pick it up.

“What is it?” Yamato asked as Taichi hands tightened on the fabric slightly frustration clear on his face.

“It’s my Otōto’s backpack. He must have been here just before we arrived.” Taichi admitted as he realised how close he had come to reuniting with his missing Otōto.    

“Daisuke-chan’s not one to run off if he’s lost though. That’s more something you would do.” Sora pointed out and Taichi tilted his head slightly as he realised what she said was true.

“So if that’s true. What would have made him leave the beach?” Yamato questioned just before the sea exploded upwards with a huge bang. The group of children all turned just in time to see a huge Digimon pull itself out of the water with a furious roar.

“Does that answer your question, Yamato?” Gabumon questioned sweetly without a trace of sarcasm in his tone just before the Digimon roared once more.

* * *

With Daisuke’s and V-Mon’s help, the Lion Heart Village was soon clear of choirs and Master Elecmon watched as everyone relaxed around the small pond.

The relaxing atmosphere though was shattered by a small ripple in the pond. Master Elecmon’s eyes narrowed as the ripples become bigger before he finally heard a loud thump.

“What was that?” Daisuke questioned as another loud thump sounded. V-Mon blinked in shock as the all the Zurumon and Elecmon froze in fear.

“Leomon! Figh’ me Leomon!” Someone suddenly roared from the forest and Master Elecmon suddenly jumped into actions.

“Get all the Zurumon to safety, prepare to defend the village!” Master Elecmon roared and V-Mon was quick to pull Daisuke out of the way as everyone rushed into action.

“What’s happening, Master Elecmon?” V-Mon demanded as he made sure to keep his partner close as the thumping, which was defiantly footsteps, were now sounding much closer than before.

“It’s Ogremon! He’s an Adult Ogre Digimon who’s had a very fierce rivalry with our protector ever since the two were Fresh Digimon!” Master Elecmon hurriedly explained just before the final line of trees was viciously knocked down.

“ **SPARKLING THUNDER**!” Elecmon shouted and Daisuke watched as thunder was charged up at the tip of his tails before blasting towards the shadows of the forest. A loud yelp was heard as the attack hit its mark.

“Ya irritain’ rodent Elecmon!” The Digimon roared as he finally left the shadows and stomped into the light of the village. Daisuke gasped as V-Mon stepped in front of him protectively already sensing his partner’s.

In front of the group of three stood a huge Digimon who reminded Daisuke of the goblins he saw in fairytale books. He towered over the three of them with two huge fists and a permanent sick grin on his face. His skin was bright green and he had black belts around his leg and right arm. He also had a black belt loincloth. In his hand was a vicious piece of bone with metal spikes sticking out all over it.

“You are not welcome here, Ogremon! Chief Leomon is not here so leave!” Master Elecmon ordered but Ogremon simply laughed.

“I know ‘ee’s not ‘ere, rat! But ‘ee hasn’ been meetin’ me for out fights. I’m goin’ to show him wha’ happens when he tries to get out of the deal! **BONE CLUB**!” Ogremon roared as he slammed his club down on the ground creating a wave of rocks that flew towards the group of three.

“Daisuke look out!” V-Mon shouted as he quickly shoved the six-year-old to the side before dodging with Elecmon to the other side.

“ **SPARKLING THUNDER**!” Elecmon screamed as he fired another blast of thunder from his tail feathers that Ogremon jumped back to dodge.

“ **V HEADBUTT**!” V-Mon shouted as V on his forehead glowed bright orange before he jumped forward and slammed into Ogremon with a loud bang.  Ogremon flinched backwards before he growled loudly as V-Mon flipped backwards and landed on his feet.

“Ya dare ge’ in my way?! Take this! **TYRANT FIST**!” Ogremon shouted as he punched forward with his free hand and released a burst of dark energy from his fist. V-Mon cried out as he flew backwards before crashing to the floor with a loud thump.

“V-Mon!” Daisuke shouted as he quickly ran to his partner’s side despite the danger and carefully placed his hands on V-Mon’s cool skin.

“Daisuke…get out of here.” V-Mon groaned as he pushed himself up to his feet with a loud groan.

“Wha’ this? Wha’ ‘r’ ya?” Ogremon grunted as he stared at Daisuke in confusion before he shook his head and hefted his club in the air once more.

“Doesn’ ma’ter. **BONE CLUB**!” Ogremon grunted as he swung his club down and V-Mon quickly shoved Daisuke to the side before crying out as he was thrown back once more.

“ **NINE TAILES**!” Master Elecmon shouted as he suddenly appeared over Ogremon’s shoulder and spun in the air before slapping his tails straight into the Ogre’s face. Electricity suddenly appeared around Ogremon and he shouted as he fell to the floor.

“ARG! Ya lil’ pest!” Ogremon roared as he reached forward and grabbed Elecmon by his tails before throwing him into a tree. Elecmon screamed before he fell to the floor unconscious.

V-Mon growled angrily as he charged up another V Headbutt but this time Ogremon was prepared and easily batted him aside with his club. As Ogremon prepared to use Bone Club a stone suddenly struck his forehead.

“Wha’ was tha’?” Ogremon grunted just before another rock slammed into his forehead, just as he turned his head to look though another rock smashed right into his eye causing him to cry out.

“Take that you bully! Leave V-Mon alone!” Daisuke shouted as he picked up another rock about the size of his fist and prepared to throw it.

“Why ya li’l pest! How dare ya throw rocks at me?!” Ogremon roared as he raised his club and slammed it into the ground in front of the small boy. Daisuke cried out as he was thrown backwards and he landed on the ground with a small thud.

“Daisuke!” V-Mon shouted as he forced himself up to his feet before started charging up his attack once more. With a loud yell, he used V Headbutt on Ogremon’s side forcing the Digimon backwards.

“Stay away from my partner!” V-Mon as he landed on his feet in front of Daisuke, fully prepared to protect him against this beast. Ogremon looked at the two of them blankly before he burst out into cruel laughter.

“Ya think you stand a chance against me? Ya punny Digimon, I’ll deal with ya easily.” Ogremon snorted as he hefted his club in the air. V-Mon’s eyes widened before he turned around and covered Daisuke’s small body with his own.

“ **BONE CLUB!** ” Ogremon roared as he swung his club down and V-Mon cried out as he felt the force smash into his back before he was thrown forwards, Daisuke still held tightly in his arms.

 The two crashed to the ground with a loud thump with dirt and mud settling around them. V-Mon clenched his teeth tightly as he tried to rise to his feet. He whimpered though when his back exploded with pain and collapsed to the floor, his tight grip on Daisuke finally failing.

“V-Mon!” Daisuke cried out as he watched the blue Digimon finally fall unconscious to the ground. Daisuke whimpered as he pulled the Digimon in his arms and shook him slightly in desperation.

“V-Mon! V-Mon you’ve got to wake! Please wake up!” Daisuke begged as tears filled his eyes. The 6-year-old sniffed and bit his lip as he forced himself to not to stop sobbing.

“V-Mon please!” Daisuke begged but his eyes widened in horror as a shadow fell across the two of them. Fearfully Daisuke looked up straight into the insane eyes of Ogremon.

“How borin’. Can’ believe ya finished already. Wha’ a waste of my time.” Ogremon grunted as Daisuke shook in fear holding V-Mon close to his chest.

“A-Aniki…” Daisuke whimpered through trembling lips as he stared at Ogremon with unseeing eyes. Strange flashes were going through his mind.

Long orange hair dripping with red liquid, familiar mocha coffee coloured eyes wide but completely dead, sharp teeth in an insane sick grin.

“Che. Ya’r not even goin’ to figh’ ba’k? Fine then.” Ogremon grunted as he clenched his fist and allowed it to be covered by dark energy.

“…Aniki…help me…” Daisuke whispered faintly as his fingernails dug into V-Mon’s shoulder without cutting the thick skin.

“ **TYRANT FIST**!” Ogremon roared and Daisuke gasped as he was brought back to reality. It was too late to move, the only thing Daisuke could do was curl up around V-Mon and hope to protect him.

As Ogremon released his dark attack a loud screeching noise echoed around the clearing. Daisuke screamed as he tightened his grip on V-Mon just as a familiar bright light surrounded Daisuke’s device on his shorts.

V-Mon’s eyes snapped open just as the two of them were surrounded by the bright light from Daisuke’s device.

* * *

“That’s a Shellmon!” Tentomon cried out as the huge shell Digimon released a huge wave of water that destroyed the row of phone booths with a loud smash.

“A what?” Koushirou questioned as the Digimon formed a defensive shield in front of them as Shellmon growled at them furiously.

“Shellmon is an Adult Mollusc Digimon. It stays in the seas unless someone invades its territory.” Tentomon buzzed and Joe gulped as he quickly packed away all the emergency supplies in his bag.

“I guess that’s what we’re doing then, huh?” Joe pointed out needlessly as Taichi proceeded to pulled Daisuke’s backpack, with the sketchbook inside, onto his own back for safe keeping.

“Why is everyone bothering me today?! First, it was that V-Mon with that pink thing and now there’s a whole group of pink things bothering me! Why can’t you leave my beach alone?!” Shellmon roared in frustration before stomping the ground hard enough to shake the ground.

“We didn’t mean to invade your territory! Just lets us leave and we’ll go back into the forest.” Gabumon reassured calmly but Shellmon simply growled.

“No! You will pay! You will drown in the water just like the other two before you!” Shellmon boomed and Taichi felt his heart turn to ice.

He had to be lying right? Daisuke got away. He ran away. That’s why he’s not here, he got away and is safe!

_But then…why is his backpack still here? If he had run into the forest he wouldn’t have left his backpack!_

“I won’t let you touch Taichi!” Agumon declared while pointing his claws at the shell Digimon with a dangerous growl.

“Insolent brat! You think you can stand up against my power?! I’ll put back in your place!” Shellmon shouted furiously before he bowed his head.

“Move!” Gomamon shouted as he suddenly felt the water start to gather around Shellmon’s head. The kids didn’t hesitate as they ran to the side out of the way.

“ **HYDRO PRESSURE!** ” Shellmon roared before firing a huge wave of water from his skull at the running group. Quickly they all dropped to the ground but Joe cried out as he struck in the back and thrown ahead of the group with a thump.

“Joe-sempai _!_ ” Sora cried out as Gomamon forced himself through the sand on his flippers as quickly as he could. Taichi narrowed his eyes before turning to face Shellmon as his fist clenched as his side.

“Agumon…” Taichi started to growl and the orange Dinosaur nodded at his partner, his eyes hard as steel.

“Leave it us Taichi. We’ll make him pay!” Agumon swore before he took off towards Shellmon with Gabumon and Biyomon following close behind.

“Joe! Joe, are you alright?!” Gomamon demanded hysterically as he placed a flipper on his partner’s back. Joe groaned before he pushed himself up and brushed the sand off his front.

“I’m alright, just a bit wet,” Joe reassured as he squeezed some water out of his vest and tried to brush off some wet sand off his trousers. Gomamon smiled as he picked up Joe’s glasses out of the sand and held them out carefully.

“Oh…Thank you Gomamon.” Joe replied carefully as he accepted his eyewear and Gomamon beamed back happily.

“ **BABY FLAME!** ” Agumon roared as the gas built up in the back of his throat before spitting out a fireball that struck Shellmon hard in the leg causing him to roar in pain.

“ **PE** TIT FIRE-Huh?” Gabumon gasped as his blue fire barely made it an inch from his mouth before dispersing in the air. Shaking his head Gabumon tried again but with the same results.

“ **MAG** ICAL FIR-Uh oh.” Biyomon groaned as she suddenly found she couldn’t keep herself in the air anymore and fell to the ground with a small thump.

“Biyomon!” Sora cried out as she quickly ran forward with Yamato not far behind her. She was quick to wrap her arms around the pink bird Digimon as she tried to push herself up.

“What’s wrong Gabumon? Why won’t your attack work?” Yamato demanded as he stopped Gabumon from falling backwards. He frowned as he felt Gabumon shake slightly beneath his pelt.

“I don’t know. I feel so tired all of a sudden.” Gabumon groaned as he placed a paw on his forehead and tried to stop the world from spinning.

“It’s like all my energy has been sucked out of me,” Biyomon whispered weakly as she allowed herself to sag into Sora’s arms.

“Leave it to us! We’ll get him!” Patamon announced as he flew to where Agumon was dodging another Hydro Pump with an easy jump. Palmon and Tentomon were quick to join the flying pig as Gomamon stayed back with Joe.

“ **POISON I** VY!”

“ **PETI** T THUNDER!”

“ **AI** R SHOT!”

But just like with Gabumon and Biyomon though none of the attacks worked right. Palmon couldn’t get her lines to even reach Shellmon let alone have the strength to hold him in place.

Tentomon’s thunder was more like a sparkler than an attack, and Palmon’s seemed like he breathed out not released an attack. As soon as the attacks faded all three of them fell to the floor in exhaustion.

“Palmon! Oh no!” Mimi cried out as she quickly ran to her partner and pulled her up from the sand and into her arms.

“Tentomon! What’s the matter? Where did all your energy go?” Koushirou questioned as he fell on his knees beside the beetle Digimon. Tentomon buzzed weakly as he forced himself to look at Koushirou as well as he could.

“I’m hungry Koushioru-han...”

“Patamon! Are you okay?” Takeru cried out as he lifted the flying pig in his arms and allowed Yamato to pull him behind him for safety.

“I’m so tired Takeru.” Patamon moaned as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“There all exhausted but they were fine just a second ago! What happened?” Yamato wondered as Shellmon continued to roar in front of them.

“Agumon, are you alright?” Taichi called out in worry but to his amazement, Agumon grinned at him over his shoulder looking completely fine.

“Why isn’t Agumon affected as well though?” Koushirou asked out as he tried to work out the mystery in front of him. Sora gasped though as she realised what was different about Agumon when compared to the others.

“Of course! Taichi gave Agumon his bag of chips! That’s why he’s not tired; Agumon is the only Digimon who’s eaten anything!” Sora pointed out as Agumon fired another Baby Flame but this time managing to hit Shellmon in his eye.

“So Agumon is the only one who can fight now?” Yamato demanded doubtfully as he silently pointed out the odds of the fight to the group. Taichi clenched his fists tightly before he stepped in front of the group protectively.

“Get to safety; me and Agumon will distract it,” Taichi ordered as he leant down and picked up a piece of metal that had probably come from the pay phones.

“What?! Taichi are you crazy?! We’re not leaving here!” Sora protested as she jumped to her feet after making sure Biyomon was steady against her.

“I’m not giving you a choice Sora,” Taichi said simply before he slipped off his Daisuke’s backpack and held it out to the girl he considered his best friend.

“Find Daisuke for me and protect him until I catch up.” Taichi insisted, his brown eyes narrowed in determination. Sora heisted only for a second before taking the bag.

“Tai…”

“Stay safe,” Taichi ordered before he turned and with all his strength threw the piece of metal and Shellmon. The shell Digimon roared in pain as the metal struck him hard on the head.

“Hey, you giant Shellfish! Why don’t you try me for size?!” Taichi taunted as he quickly moved away from the group while picking up another piece of metal.

“You insolent brat! I’ll make you pay! I’ll make you all pay!” Shellmon roared as he tried to grab Taichi with hair but the soccer player easily dodged to the side just as Agumon ran to his side.

“ **BABY FLAME**!” Agumon roared as he blasted off the piece of hair and Shellmon reared onto his back legs with a loud scream.

“Get to Joe-sempai!” Sora ordered as she slipped the back over shoulders before picking Biyomon up in her arms. Takeru followed in example and so did Mimi while Yamato picked up Tentomon for Koushirou, Gabumon was the only Digimon who had enough energy to actually walk on his feet. Quickly the group took off running to Joe just in time avoid being hit by Shellmon’s Hydro Pressure.

“Aren’t we going to look for this Daisuke kid?” Yamato questioned quietly but then he barely held back the urge to flinch as Sora glared at him furiously.

“I will not leave Taichi behind, no matter how much of a sacrificial idiot he’s being,” Sora stated firmly before she looked over at Joe, who was looking just plain confused.

“Can you feed the Digimon? We can’t leave Taichi out there alone.” Sora requested and Joe nodded as he reached inside the emergency supplies as started pulling out food.

“ **HYDRO PRESSURE**!” Shellmon shouted as he fired another wave of water. Taichi and Agumon separated as they threw themselves to the side to avoid being struck. Taichi grunted as he hits the floor on his side but he didn’t hesitate to once again chuck his metal piece at Shellmon.

The metal bar though missed and Shellmon chuckled as he once again tried to grab Taichi with his tentacle hair. Seeing this Taichi quickly got to his feet but he yelped when his sneakers slipped on the sand sending him straight back down to the ground.

That was all Shellmon needed and as quick as the wind he wrapped his hair around Taichi, forcing the boy’s arms down to his side and lifting him up in the air.

“Let him go!” Agumon shouted as he fired another Baby Flame at Shellmon’s feet but the Shell Digimon simply lifted his foot and forced Agumon to the ground with it.

“Agumon! Let me go! Let me go!” Taichi growled as he tried to wiggle free but Shellmon simply tightened his hold causing Taichi to gasp for air.

“You are like that other pink thing. Nearly impossible to hold still but I won’t make the same mistake I did with him. With your Agumon stuck, I’m free to make you pay for trespassing.”

“N-no! L-let go!” Taichi gasped before crying out as Shellmon once again tightened his hold. It felt like his ribs were about to snap and it was getting harder to breathe; at this rate, he’s going to pass out.

“T-Taichi...” Agumon groaned as he tried to free himself but while Shellmon wasn’t crushing the dinosaur with his foot; he wasn’t willing to let him go either.

“Taichi!” Sora cried out as she prepared to run forward towards Shellmon but Yamato was quick to grab her arm.

“Let me go Yamato-kun!”

“Are you stupid?! That thing will crush you if you go near it!” Yamato shouted causing Sora to glare at him angrily.

“I can’t just leave him!” Sora objected as she tried to free her wrist but Yamato refused, his blue eyes almost as cold as ice.

“And what can you do? Without our Digimon, we’re just kids! We can’t do anything!” Yamato shouted and Sora looked to the ground in silence.

Taichi was trying with all his strength to break free but Shellmon was having none of it, every time Taichi felt his bonds becoming loose Shellmon would make them twice as strong.

“A-Agumon…” Taichi whispered as he struggled to breathe through his binds. Shellmon chuckled before he tightened his tentacles once more. Taichi’s eyes widened as his airway was completely blocked.

“Taichi!” Agumon shouted as he realised he could no longer hear his partner and quickly put more effort into escaping.

‘No! No, I can’t die here! I’ve got to keep everyone safe, I’ve got to keep Agumon safe... Daisuke...I can’t die here...I need to find Daisuke, I need to protect him!’ Taichi thought to himself faintly as black spots started covering his eyesight.

“ **Do you have the Courage to accomplish all that, child?** ” An old but strong voice suddenly demanded in his ear causing Taichi’s eyes to shoot open in shock.

“What?” He croaked just before the device on his belt gave off a blinding bright light. Shellmon roared as he was forced to release his prey as he seemed to become surrounded by the light.

“What’s going on? What’s happening to Taichi?” Sora demanded but no one could answer her, they could only watch.

* * *

 

Taichi slowly allowed his eyes to open as he released he wasn’t feeling the crushing pressure of Shellmon anymore. His eyes went wide though as he released he wasn’t on the beach anymore, instead he seemed to be floating in a room that was completely orange.

“Where am I?”

“ **You are in your soul. Here your strongest Virtue is tested to see if you are worthy of it.** ” The same voice from before answered but Taichi couldn’t see where it was coming from.

“Who are you? What are you going on about? I don’t understand!” Taichi growled furiously but the voice didn’t answer his question.

“ **You say you want to protect your friends and your partner but do you have the Courage for that**?”

“What do you-?” Taichi began but the voice continued to ignore him.

“ **Do you have the Courage to keep them safe in this dangerous world? Do you have the Courage to keep your partner safe when he fights for you?** ”

“Who the hell-?!” Taichi growled starting to get angry as the voice continued to ignore him.

“ **Do you have the Courage to protect your precious** **Otōto** **?** ” The voice demanded and Taichi froze.

“Daisuke?”

“ **Are you sure you can keep him safe? You’ve already lost him, how do you know he’s even alive? Do you have the Courage to accept that you may have failed?** ”

“I...” Taichi trailed off. He had no idea how to answer that one.

“ **Do you have the Courage to accept that maybe both your younger siblings are better without you? Maybe you should have the Courage to make yourself disappear.** ” The voice pointed out smoothly but to Taichi it sounded like poison. Finally, he had enough of this stupid voice thinking he knows what he’s life like.

“SHUT UP!” Taichi roared loudly and the room flashed brightly for a couple of seconds before returning to its normal orange colour.

The voice was finally silent.

“Look I don’t know who you think you are but you’ve got no right to say those things about me! You don’t know what goes on in my life and you don’t know what I think, so shut your mouth!” Taichi growled as his fists clenched at his side.

“Daisuke is fine, I know he’s fine because he’s strong. He’ll be fine when I find him and I will protect him just like I always do! I’ll protect my friends and I’ll protect Agumon and no stupid voice is going to call me a coward for doing so! I will protect them all and I will make sure we all get home safely!” Taichi yelled passionately before his chest started to feel warm. He looked down in shock to see a strange orange glow coming from his heart.

“What?”

“ **You have been proven worthy. This is your chance, Chosen Child of Courage, prove to everyone you are worthy of that Virtue. Prove them you have the Courage to keep all those close to you safe!** ” The voice shouted encouragingly.

“But what do I do?” Taichi demanded. The voice was silent for a couple of seconds before he whispered his answer.

“ **You know what to do**.”

And Taichi did.

**(** _Activate OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

With courage clear in his eyes Taichi grabbed his Digivice from his belt before he swiped it in the air in front of him. Then Taichi thrust the device into the air as it started to hum.

“Lock on!” Taichi called out and his Digivice suddenly flashed to a bright orange for a couple of seconds before it shot out a bright orange beam straight at Agumon.

“Digivolution activate!” Taichi shouted and Agumon roared as he jumped into the air straight into the air while glowing bright orange.

Slowly Agumon felt himself stretching and growing, his skin became a dark orange with blue marks and his arms became shorter. A brown skull with a horn appeared on the top of his head as he grew till he was 9ft in height.

“Agumon... Digivolve too...GREYMON!” With that one loud roar, the dinosaur shattered the bubble-like glass before landing on the sound with a loud bang.

**(** _End OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

“What happened?” Mimi questioned as the light slowly faded revealing that Shellmon was now on his side a few away from Taichi and his partner who seemed to have doubled in size.

“He must have Digivolved again!” Koushirou realised as the group all stared in awe at the huge monster Agumon had changed into.

“That’s Greymon and Adult Dinosaur Digimon!  He has a body like a lethal weapon covered in sharp claws and gigantic horns which tear through everything!” Tentomon happily informed them as Greymon growled slightly through his teeth.

“You think you can hurt my partner like that and get away with it?! I’m going to send you back to the sea where you belong!” Greymon roared before he charged forward and grabbed hold of Shellmon’s shell with his claws.

“Let me go you overgrown beast!” Shellmon shouted but Greymon ignored him as he bent his knees and proceeded to lift Shellmon above his head with a loud growl.

“Wow! You’re awesome Greymon!” Taichi shouted out proudly as he watched his partner flex his arms before swinging them with a huge roar, forcing Shellmon to go flying into the air with a scream of rage.

“ **MEGA FLAME**!” Greymon roared as he allowed gas to build up before he fired a huge wave of fire that was so hot it was almost white in colour. Shellmon screamed as the fire struck him head on and sent him straight into the ocean with a huge splash.

It was silent for a couple of seconds before Shellmon broke through the surface of the water with a roar, with a snarl he looked at Greymon with a furious glare before he turned around and allowed himself to sink back under the water out of sight.

Greymon waited a couple more seconds before relaxing with a sigh that was very close to a growl. As soon as he relaxed his body glowed bright orange and began to shrink; when the light cleared Agumon was revealed falling on his behind with an exhausted sigh.

“Agumon!” Taichi called out as he quickly ran towards his tired partner and gathered him up into a well-deserved hug.

“You saved me, Agumon. Thank you so much.” Taichi whispered gratefully and Agumon laughed bashfully as he scratched the back of his head.

“Well you’re my partner Taichi, I wouldn’t have been able to Digivolve at all if it wasn’t for you.” Agumon pointed out causing Taichi to roll his eyes.

“Come on let’s get some food in you. I bet you’re hungry again right?” Taichi guessed and Agumon’s stomach gave a fierce rumble of agreement.

The other children all relaxed as they realised the danger had finally passed with both Taichi and Agumon coming out unharmed. Koushirou though narrowed his eyes as he caught something in the corner of his eye.

“What was that?” He whispered to himself as he spotted a familiar bright white light coming from the forest. As he watched the lights change from white to a mix between blue and gold.

* * *

“ **Wake my precious little Kiseki.** ” Daisuke groaned as he heard a soft but loving voice whisper in his ear. His eyes slowly opened before they widened as he took in the area around him.

The vast forest had been replaced by a sky of navy blue that seemed to surround him as he floated. In the distance, Daisuke could see a castle made of pure gold that seemed to shine.

“ **My little Kiseki you have gone through so much and yet you are still so strong. You make me so proud and I know you’ll continue to do so.** ” The voice whispered and Daisuke looked around desperately but couldn’t locate the speaker.

“Who are you?”

“ **Soon you will find out. For now, though I will grant you a power that will help your partner become strong, this power is your Virtues and it’s what makes you, you.”**

“Makes me, me? What do you mean?” Daisuke whispered in confusion before he felt warmth coming from his chest. His eyes widened when he saw a sky blue glow coming from his heart.

“ **Such a strong power in someone so young. You must be strong Daisuke, your Virtues are very valuable and there will be times when enemies will want you for that power. You must be strong.** ”

“Virtues? What are you talking about?”

“ **Now is not the time. You will soon know what I speak of. Now go my Chosen Child, it is time for you to make something impossible happen. It is time for you to bring forth Harmony to the world.”**

“But how?”

“ **You know how. You’ve always known how**.”

And Daisuke did.

**(** _Activate OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

Daisuke’s square goggles seemed to shine gold just for a second before Daisuke snapped them onto his head. With a grin, Daisuke spun his Digivice in his fingers before grabbing it and thrusting it straight into the air.

 “Lock on!” Daisuke cried out and the Digivice flashed a beautiful golden colour for a couple of seconds before a beam of the same colour shot and struck V-Mon straight in the chest.

“Digivolution activate!” Daisuke shouted. V-Mon growled as he started to glow a mix between gold and blue.

V-Mon roared as he felt himself becoming bigger and bulkier. Claws as thick as tree trunks grew out of his fingers and toes, two very sharp horns shot out from the end of his ears and his teeth turned into very lethal fangs. His tail became much thicker and a horn grew out the top of his nose.

“V-Mon... Digivolve too...V-DRAMON!” The dragon roared as he flexed his claws in a threatening manner, a huge grin stretched across his mouth.

**(** _End OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

“Wha’ the ‘ell?! Wha’ did ya do?!” Ogremon roared as the light faded away to reveal V-Dramon standing in front of Daisuke defensively, the grin still stretched across his face.

 “What’s the matter Ogremon? I thought you wanted a fight?” V-Dramon taunted and Ogremon growled in rage as he pulled his fist back.

“Ya cheeky brat! I’ll show ya a figh’!”

“Go to Master Elecmon Daisuke,” V-Dramon ordered as he gave Daisuke a small nudge to the side. Daisuke bit his lip before he wrapped his arms around V-Dramon’s leg in a hug.

“Be careful,” Daisuke whispered before he took off running to where Elecmon was slowly coming around and pushing himself back to his feet.

“My goodness that’s a V-Dramon!” Master Elecmon gasped as Daisuke quickly ran to his side and carefully placed his hands on the Digimon’s injured side.

“Are you alright Master Elecmon?” Daisuke questioned but Master Elecmon continued to stare at V-Dramon in awe.

“V-Dramon is an Adult Level Digimon with offensive power that is uncommon even among Adults! It’s such a rare sight to see one that they are considered Precious all across the Digital World!” Master Elecmon explained before he finally turned to look at Daisuke with a smile.

“To have someone like that as your partner, you must have an amazing power hidden inside you Daisuke.”

“ **HAMMER PUNCH**!” V-Dramon shouted as a bright blue energy surrounded his fist before he let it fly straight into Ogremon’s face sending the Digimon stumbling backwards.

“Ya li’l pest!” Ogremon roared as he tried to shake off the attack but the world spun around him causing him to shake his head with a growl. As soon as he could see straight Ogremon powered up and released a Tyrant Fist that V-Dramon easily blocked with his arms.

“You think you can come here and terrorise this peaceful village with your selfish wishes? I’m going to make sure you never return here again!” V-Dramon proclaimed but Ogremon barked out a harsh laugh.

“Ya? Make me leave? Ya’r jokin’! I ain’t leavin’ until I ge’ my figh’t with Leomon!” Ogremon swore as he lifted his club in the air. V-Dramon suddenly narrowed his eyes, the bright red colour looking more vicious as his smile become more feral.

Daisuke couldn’t help but whimper at the frightening image his partner was displaying and pushing himself closer to Master Elecmon slightly. The elder Elecmon looked at him before petting his hand, which was clenched tightly in the dirt.

“Don’t be scared Daisuke. You know V-Dramon would never hurt you.” Daisuke stayed silent though. True V-Mon would never hurt, but V-Dramon? Daisuke wasn’t so sure.

V-Dramon chuckled slightly as he managed to strike another hit on Ogremon with his Hammer Punch, he then ducked down to avoid being hit with a Bone Club and retailed with a hard kick to the stomach that send Ogremon flying into a tree with a grunt.

Seeing his chance V-Dramon took a deep breath and started gathering gas at the back of his throat.

 “ **V-BREATH ARROW**!” V-Dramon called out before he fired a fire wave that was so hot it was almost white in colour. As it got close to Ogremon though the wave slowly changed shape to form an arrow that struck the Ogremon hard in the chest sending him flying into the distance with a scream of rage.

“I’ll get ya next time ya brat!” Ogremon’s last words echoed around the village before he was gone out of sight.

Silence fell over the village before V-Dramon released a sigh as his body glowed a mix between blue and gold before it started to shrink. When the lights cleared away V-Mon was revealed yawning behind his hand.

“Man, that’s tiring. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that again anytime soon.” V-Mon admitted tiredly before he was suddenly forced to catch his 6-year-old partner as Daisuke threw himself at him in a hug.

“V-Mon! I can’t believe it, you beat that meanie Ogremon! You were so cool!” Daisuke gushed as he hung slightly off V-Mon’s neck. V-Mon returned Daisuke’s hug with just as much force as the two tried to calm themselves down.

“I’m glad you’re alright Daisuke.” V-Mon admitted causing Daisuke to pull back so he was looking into V-Mon’s gentle red eyes and grinned.

“It’s because I got you to protect me, V-Mon! With you looking out for me, I know I’ll be safe and sound.” Daisuke announced and V-Mon felt his eyes sting as he felt like his heart had melted from Daisuke’s kind words.

Sadly the moment was ruined by a loud rumbling coming from both V-Mon’s and Daisuke’s stomachs. The two looked at each other before bursting out laughing so hard tears filled their eyes.

 A few feet away though Master Elecmon wasn’t joining in with the happy laughter. Instead, he was frowning slightly as he stared at the device attached to Daisuke’s shorts.

‘So its gotten that bad huh? The Chosen Children have finally arrived to fix our Digital World. How terrible we have to rely on human children to fix our messes.’ Master Elecmon thought to himself sadly before he turned out and walked to his hut.

Maybe he could prepare some food for his guests, seeing as his Village won’t be back until nightfall.

* * *

The beach was silent once more, the children settled down in a circle as the sea washed up on the sand in gentle waves.

Taichi was sitting next to Agumon staring at his brother’s backpack with a frown. Now that things had calmed down Taichi couldn’t get Shellmon’s words out of his head.

_“_ _You will drown in the water just like the other two before you!”_

‘It’s a lie right Daisuke? You didn’t drown did you?’ Taichi wondered as he unknowingly clenched the backpack tighter in his fists.

“Tai?” Sora suddenly whispered as she placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder causing him to jump slightly. Taichi looked at her blankly before Sora smiled in reassurance.

“I’m sure Daisuke-chan is fine. You know how tough he is, he’s not going to let something like Shellmon keep him down.” Sora said but Taichi could only bring up a faint smile, his mind still winding around the dark possibilities.

“What are we going to do now?” Yamato asked as he allowed Takeru to rest his head on his lap.

“Well we can’t stay here, Shellmon might come back.” Koushirou pointed out logically and the group all hummed in agreement.

“Well I would normally say we should go back where we started but we might run into Kuwagamon again.” Joe pointed out levelly, much calmer now that the payphones had been destroyed.

 “You know I saw a bright light coming from the forest earlier on. It was similar to the light Agumon gave off but it seemed to be a mix between blue and gold.” Koushirou admitted and Tentomon buzzed in curiosity.

“That’s unusual. Normally Digivolving is a sign of age with us Digimon, as soon as we Digivolve we don’t de-Digivolve back. That orange light is strange as well.” Tentomon admitted and the rest of the Digimon nodded in agreement.

“Really? Why’d you say that?” Koushirou questioned in fascination and Gabumon was the one who answered him.

“When we first Digivolved after hatching it was with a white light. It’s our power, all Digimon glow a bright white when they’re about to Digivolve.”

“But Agumon glowed orange and not only that he turned back when Shellmon was gone.” Taichi pointed out and Agumon grinned as he leant against the boy’s side.

“That’s your power Taichi! That orange glow is you, it’s why I can turn back into Agumon when the fight is over. It’s not a permanent Digivolve, it’s just so I can protect you.” Agumon said happily and Koushirou’s eyes widened in realisation.

“Wait so the colour is from us, humans? But then that means the light I saw earlier was a human as well!” Koushirou gasped and Sora snapped her fingers as she quickly caught onto the smaller boy’s thoughts.

“It must have been Daisuke-chan _!_ He must have made it into the forest after being confronted by Shellmon!”

Taichi blinked his eyes before he narrowed them in determination and stood to his feet. He took a deep breath before smiling as he slipped the bag over his shoulders with an easy swing.

“Then I guess that’s where we’re heading next then, right?” Taichi hinted and the children all smiled as they joined him on their feet.

“Right!”

With that, the group of children and Digimon started making their way up the beach and into the thick curtains of trees.

‘Hold on Daisuke. I’m coming.’ Taichi thought to himself firmly as he started to lead the way.

* * *

“What are you planning on doing now, Daisuke?” Master Elecmon questioned as the 6-year-old finished up the last bite of his Meat Apple, which strangely tasted like beef.

“You’re welcome to stay if that’s what you wish.” The Digimon reassured as Daisuke looked down thoughtfully as fiddled his fingers. V-Mon blinked as he looked at his partner in silence.

After a couple of seconds, Daisuke finally nibbled on his lip before answering Master Elecmon’s question.

“I want to find Taichi-onii-chan. I want to find my Aniki.” Daisuke admitted and Master Elecmon closed his eyes with a smile.

It wasn’t long before both Daisuke and V-Mon were standing at the village entrance with Master Elecmon seeing them off.

“I don’t like goodbyes…” Daisuke whispered sadly before he sniffed and roughly rubbed his watery eyes with his arm. Master Elecmon smiled gently as he placed his paw on the boy’s leg.

“There’s no need for tears. We’ll see each other again little Daisuke.”

“You promise?” Daisuke whimpered and when Master Elecmon nodded the boy fell to his knees and hugged the Digimon tightly.

“Thank you,” Daisuke whispered before he stood up and rubbed away the last of his tears.

“Let’s go V-Mon! We’ve got an Aniki to find!” Daisuke grinned as he pumped his fist in the air and V-Mon grinned as he copied the action.

“I’m right behind you Daisuke!”

Master Elecmon smiled as he watched the two of them disappear into the forest before looking over his shoulder to look at the figure that had just arrived.

“You’re going with them, Chief Leomon?” Master Elecmon questioned as he stared at the Digimon who was considered the Protector of the Digital World.

Leomon lived up to his name looking exactly like a lion main like fire and golden fur. He stood on 2 legs with black trousers and strong clear muscles and resting against his lower back was a huge sword.

“You know the village won’t mind right? Protecting that boy is more important.” Master Elecmon pointed out and Leomon sighed before he walked towards the entrance where Daisuke and V-Mon just left.

“Oh, Chief Leomon?” Master Elecmon called out and the lion Digimon paused in his stride.

“Be careful with that one. He has a habit of… _growing_ on you.” Master Elecmon said simply. Leomon simply nodded to show he had heard before continuing his stride into the forest leaving Master Elecmon alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Sentences Translated:**  
>  \- **"¿Hola? ¿Quién es este? Juan es que usted? ¿Te das cuenta de lo tarde que es?!"** (Spanish) _"Hello? Who is this? John is that you? Do you realise how late it is?!"_  
>  \- **"Sora? Wer ist dieser Sora von dem Sie sprechen? Ich heiße Frank und Sie nur ein sehr wichtiges Treffen unterbrochen!"** (German) _"Sora? Who is this Sora you are speaking of? My name is Frank and you just interrupted a very important meeting!"_  
>  \- **"-Просто ждать, пока я доберусь до тебя, Хэмиш! Вы будете сожалеть говорить ко мне нравится! Я сделаю вас нет очистите киосков, пока ваши руки кровоточили!-"** (Russian) _"-just wait till I get my hands on you, Hamish! You will regret talking back to me like that! I will make you clean the stalls until your hands bleed-!"_  
>  -  
>  **Translations**  
>  - **Otōto** (弟, Little Brother) – _The term used for little or younger brother._  
>  - **Aniki** (お兄さん, Older Brother) - _The term used for Older or Big brother._  
>  - **Okaa/Kaa** (母, {Respected} Mother) - _The term used for one's mother._  
>  - **Otou/Tou** (父, {Respected} Father) – _The term used for one's father._  
>  - **Onee/Nee** (姉, {Respected} Elder Sister) – _Term used for a respected older sister._  
>  - **Onii/Nii** (兄弟, {Respected} Elder Brother) – _Term used for a respected older brother._  
>  - **Senpai** (先輩, Upperclassman) – _Used for one's senior (colleague, fellow student) or more generally somebody in the same social class but superior to you (ex, 'Kunou-sempai')_  
>  - **Kiseki** (奇跡, Miracle)  
>  -  
>  **Ages**  
>  \- **Daisuke Yagami** – Age 6/Grade 1 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Hikari Yagami** – Age 8/Grade 3 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Takeru Takaishi** – Age 8/Grade 3 ( _Kawada Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Mimi Tachikawa** – Age 10/Grade 5 ( _Kagurazaka Girls' Academy_ )  
> \- **Koushirou Izumi** – Age 10/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Taichi Yagami** – Age 11/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Yamato Ishida** – Age 11/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Sora Takenouchi** \- Age 11/Grade 6 ( _Odaiba Elementary School_ )  
> \- **Joe Kido** – Age 12/Grade 1 ( _Odaiba Junior High School_ )  
> 


	5. Arc 1: Episode 3 - The Blue Wolf! Garurumon Makes a Stand!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right this will be final update until I complete finish writing out this first arc. But you guys have been waiting two years for me to update this so I thought why not make this one the last post before I go off on the writing marathon?  
> A couple of things need to be said before you get to this chapter though.
> 
> I will not be calling Daisuke by any other name other than Daisuke and sometimes Dai. Davis is not his nickname, that's the name he was given in the English version of Digimon. Please don't ask me to change my story because you prefer the English version, thank you.
> 
> Another reason I have taken so long with this is that this chapter was a really hard one to put together with how it explores how the group works.
> 
> I had to work out how to write the team's dynamics, how they would clash, how they would mix and how they would share their problems in a way that it was different in the show.
> 
> How Taichi and Koushirou responded to each other, how Sora and Taichi get on, how Yamato and Taichi clashed, how Sora and Mimi clashed, how the group responds to Joe not being that great of a Senpai at the moment and most importantly how Takeru and Yamato work together.
> 
> I had to keep reminding myself that, at the moment, the relationship between Yamato and everyone else isn't that great. In fact, no one is really that close to anyone except for obviously Sora, Taichi and Daisuke.
> 
> Plus certain plot points had to be changed due to the simple fact I let Taichi find Daisuke's backpack last chapter. As stated before that backpack contains stuff for both Taichi and Daisuke, including Taichi's medication.
> 
> It was going to stay with Daisuke and when he found Taichi's medication he would rush to get to him, so he can have his medicine. But of course, Shellmon ended up throwing Daisuke and V-mon into the sea, completely destroying the idea of the backpack because everything would have been destroyed by the water.
> 
> All in all, it's been difficult but I hope you guys enjoy this and I'll be seeing you when I've finished the first arc.
> 
> Enjoy!

Carefully, with their re-energized Digimon surrounding them, the group of seven kids made their way through the thick forest and wild bushes. Koushirou was leading the group to where he had seen a light appear in the sky that had been similar to Agumon's Digivolution but it had been a mix of blue and gold instead of orange.

"It's getting dark. I think we're going to have to stop soon." Sora pointed out as she realised both Koushirou and Taichi were totally absorbed into getting to their next destination. Taichi paused as he looked up to the sky he could just see through the tree tops and took in the slight orange tint it had taken on.

"Where are we going to settle down though? It's not a good idea to sleep out here when we could just be attacked again." Koushirou said as Tentomon buzzed around his head.

"I'm tired," Mimi whined as she rubbed her eyes with her fists but the dirt on the ground stopped her from sitting down like Palmon had happily done.

"Takeru can't keep going like this either. He needs sleep." Yamato stated in annoyance as said eight-year-old followed Mimi's example and yawned as he held Patamon in his arms. Gabumon stayed silent beside Yamato as his eyes flickered around the trees.

"I need to find Daisuke," Taichi said clearly and Yamato groaned as he ran a hand down his face in frustration.

"It's going to be dark in about an hour! You won't be able to see anything, so how do you expect to find your little brother?" The blonde demanded, causing Taichi to glare at with furious brown eyes as he clenched his fists at his side.

"Hey don't start you two! We're all tired and stressed but we can't take it out on each other!" Sora said sternly as Agumon and Gabumon both took hold of their partner's hands in worry.

"Taichi please don't fight!" Agumon pleaded and Gabumon nodded in agreement as he tightened his grip on Yamato when the boy tried to shake him off. "Now is not the time to be baiting your friends." Gabumon lectured wisely and Yamato huffed a bit as he looked away into the trees.

A loud roar suddenly echoed around the forest causing the group to flinch. Mimi cried out in fear as froze in place.

"What was that?" She whimpered and beside her Joe swallowed hard. "It sounds like another Digimon."

Sure enough with another loud roar, a huge grey coloured dinosaur broke through the trees in front of them. The Digimon all jumped in front of the children but they didn't attack.

"It's alright, it's just a Monochromon." Palmon reassured her partner as the dinosaur took a mouthful of leaves from a tree and provided to eat them with a happy grumble.

"Monochromon?" Koushirou questioned as everyone slowly started to relax. "Monochromon is an Adult Ankylosaur Digimon. They're harmless despite their appearance but they are a bit territorial." Tentomon explained and Taichi tensed once more.

"Territorial? You mean like Shellmon? Or Kuwagamon?" Taichi demanded and the remaining kids tensed once more at the reminder what territorial usual meant for them.

"Oh no! You misunderstand me Yagami-han! Monochromon only gets territorial when another Monochromon enter their territory." Tentomon was quick to reassure as he continued to hover above their heads.

In front of them, Monochromon was reaching forward to pull down another when suddenly it froze and started sniffing the air. Suddenly it let out a furious growl and its eyes turned to slits.

"Uh oh." Patamon squeaks as he allows himself to land on Gabumon's head and Gabumon narrows his eyes as he steps in front of Yamato and Takeru.

With a loud roar another Monochromon charges out of the trees and charges with its head down, the first Monochromon was ready for him though and the clashed horns with a loud bang.

"We need to get out of here! Those two could end up hitting us by accident!" Koushirou pointed out logically and even though Taichi didn't want to leave the one lead he had on Daisuke, he wasn't willing to risk his friend's lives for it.

"Let's go!" He shouted before he turned and ran right back in the direction they had just came from with their Digimon following close behind. Suddenly Takeru tripped over a small rock and fell to the ground with a small cry. Yamato was quick to run to his side and his hands hovered over the boy's shoulders with clear hesitation.

"Are you alright, Takeru?" Yamato demanded but just as Takeru was about to answer Taichi once again appeared in front of them with irritation clear in his eyes.

"Come on you two, you're falling behind." Taichi pointed out as he held out his hand to Takeru and helped the boy to his feet. "You've got to keep up Takeru."

Yamato blinked in shock; he couldn't believe that Taichi had said something so harsh to his Otōto. Yamato didn't get a chance to announce his anger though as Taichi once again took off. This time though Takeru was quick to follow with a small smile leaving Yamato alone on the ground.

A few minutes the group were forced to stop as Mimi rested her head against a tree with a huge sigh. Scattered around in the trees and bushes were road signs all posted at odd angles.

"I'm tired and my feet are starting to hurt." Mimi whimpered as she tried to muster up the energy to rub them. Living the life she had Mimi never really had to do anything too strenuous, there was always someone waiting to do it for her.

"Come on don't complain, Mimi. We're only going on a bit further." Taichi urged as he walked past without a hint of tiredness in his appearance or stride. Mimi pouted at him with furious caramel eyes as she allowed her hat to flutter down and rest on her back.

"No! My calves will get fat!" She whined and Taichi couldn't help but roll his eyes. Being as athletic as he was Taichi was never someone who could understand that other people needed to take breaks, especially if they weren't used to too much activity.

"Fatter legs are better Mimi! You can walk further with them and also kick things a lot harder!" Agumon pointed and Sora couldn't help herself from rolling her eyes. Agumon really was the best partner for Taichi if kicking was the reason to have strong legs.

"I'm not like you!" Mimi objected as Palmon was quick to run to her side with a happy smile.

"Why don't you take your shoes off Mimi? There's nothing better than letting my vines dig in the dirt." Palmon happily said and Mimi flinched before shaking her head viciously.

"I'm not like you either! I'm not going to let dirt get in between my toes!"

"It's even darker now." Sora pointed out needless as the trees glowed around them like neon lights, she knew without them they would have been running around blind by now. Taichi bit his lip before he looked over at Koushirou who was looking at the sky.

"Can you get us back to where we were? Where you saw the light?" The brunette asked hopefully but Koushirou shook his head with a sigh of frustration.

"No, I'm sorry Taichi-san _._  I lost it when we were running from that Monochromon. Unless it shows up again I'm not going to be able to tell what direction it's in." Koushirou summarised and Taichi groaned as he scratched the back of his neck in frustration.

"That means we're going to stop now right?" Yamato questioned needlessly from where he stood beside Mimi and Joe. Taichi clenched his fists once more but quickly calmed down as Agumon placed his claw on his hand.

"Yamato…" Gabumon murmured simply from beside Takeru who leaning against him slightly in exhaustion; the run in with Monochromon had given him enough energy to get away but now the eight-year-old was ready to go to bed.

"Hey! I smell water!" Gomamon suddenly cried out as he sniffed the air, a grin easily breaking out across his face.

"Water? I don't think we should go near water right now, I mean what if Shellmon comes back?" Joe pointed out in worry but Gomamon shook his head with a smirk as he patted his partner's leg with his flipper.

"Don't worry Joe! This smells more like a lake or a pond and Shellmon attacked us from the sea, remember?" The seal Digimon pointed out. Koushirou blinked before placing his hand on chin and looked down to the ground.

"So it's another body of water? This Digital World makes no sense when it comes to nature." The redhead muttered to himself in frustration before Tentomon suddenly took off from the ground and hovered a few feet above the group.

"I'll go take a look Koushirou-han. If Gomamon is able to smell it then it shouldn't be that far away, I should be able to see from the trees." With that, the beetle Digimon took off into the leaves of the closest tree until he got a clear view of everything in front of them.

Sure enough not far from where the group had stopped was a beautiful lake that shimmered in the dimming light. Tentomon blinked as he watched the water for a couple of seconds before buzzing with excitement as he caught sight of a faint ripple in the water.

"Tentomon? How is it?" Koushirou called up to where Tentomon was hovering with his hands cupping his mouth. It was silent for a couple of seconds before Tentomon burst through the leaves so suddenly it made Joe fall backwards to the floor with a shocked cry.

"It's the perfect spot to settle down for the night Koushriou-han. There's fish swimming in the water so that means it's clean and it's partly hidden in the trees to protect us all from danger." Tentomon summarised and Sora grinned as she patted the Digimon's metal head with a careful hand.

"Well done Tentomon." She praised causing Gomamon to huff as he looked away with an angry pout all though his eyes continued to shine impishly.

"Hey what about me? I was the one who smelt the water!" The seal protested causing Sora to laugh as she crouched down and patted him on the head as well.

"Thank you Gomamon for finding the water. I don't know what we could have done without you." She teased lightly before standing to herself and allowing Biyomon to lean against her side.

"I guess that means we're going to the lake right?" Yamato confirmed as he crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes coldly. Taichi shot him a glare before taking a deep breath and forcing himself to relax.

"At least that means we won't have to eat another load of junk food for supper. I was getting sick of potato chips anyway." The boy joked as he rubbed the back of his neck and Koushirou smiled as he adjusted his backpack slightly on his shoulders.

"Plus if there's fish here that means there must be other sources of food as well." Koushirou pointed out and despite it being a dark thought it did take a bit of pressure off their shoulders. No one wanted to be the one to kill something for food but they wouldn't last long on soda and chips and they all knew it.

Fish wouldn't last long after being killed but if the Digimon managed to survive in this world, then there must be something they were all eating to keep them going.

"Back into the water, I go!" Gomamon laughed as he prepared to flop through the trees and straight into the water. He grunted in shock though as something grabbed his tail sending him face first into the ground.

"You don't even know if it's safe yet! Be more cautious!" Joe lectured sternly as he pulled the seal Digimon back to him who whined the whole way.

"If we're going to set up camp we should probably get some sticks to make a campfire." Yamato pointed out as he pulled Takeru up to his feet once more.

"We should probably get extra so that we can actually catch the fish and cook them as well," Koushirou suggested causing Yamato smiled slightly at the genius redhead before nodding his head in silent agreement.

"Okay! Let's go check it out. If it's safe then we'll camp there tonight." Joe said and the remaining all shouted their agreement.

* * *

The forest was silent as V-Mon walked through the trees with Daisuke seated happily on his back. The two had been walking for a while now but they hadn't needed to talk, just being in each other's company was enough.

A loud grumbling noise suddenly echoed around them though causing V-Mon to freeze. Daisuke blinked in confusion before tapping his partner's chest lightly with his fingers.

"V-Mon? You okay?" The young boy questioned and the blue dragon released a sigh as he adjusted his hold on Daisuke's legs slightly just before his stomach rumbled once more.

"I'm hungry." V-Mon finally admitted before crouching down slightly so that Daisuke could easily place his feet on the ground and stand on his own. The six-year-old blinked at the Digimon before placing his hands on his own stomach as it gave a small rumble of its own.

"Me too. We left the food though in my bag back at the beach." Daisuke pointed out needlessly as he fiddled with his fingers nervously. He could see the sun going down through the treetops and as someone who never was a fan of the dark Daisuke didn't want to know what this place would be like after sundown.

V-Mon crossed his arms over his chest as he tried to think up a plan. They needed food and shelter but as far as he was aware there wasn't anything like that in the area. Master Elecmon had also made it perfectly clear to V-Mon to not get too hungry or there would be a chance he could De-Digivolve back down to Chibimon, making it impossible for him to protect his small partner.

" _De-Digivolve? But that's not possible! When a Digimon Digivolves it means they've reached the right age in both experience and power to reach the next level of their lives. Every Digimon knows this." V-Mon pointed out to the Village Elder who sighed and shook his head._

" _Yet you were able to Digivolve into V-Dramon but then De-Digivolve back into V-Mon when you ran out of energy." Master Elecmon retorted and V-Mon fell silent as he realised he was right. With V-Mon now silent Master Elecmon continued on with his theory._

" _I don't know much about this but because it's Daisuke's power that's making you Digivolve that means its only temporary. Although it seems like that the level you are at now is now your base level when Digivolving to your Adult Level. But please remember that there is a very high possibility that if you get too weak as V-Mon you will De-Digivolve back to your Baby stage."_

A sudden touch at his side brought V-Mon out of his worried thoughts. Shaking his head to clear it V-Mon looked to the side to see Daisuke leaning against him while rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"Daisuke, are you tired?" V-Mon asked just as Daisuke yawned. The boy shook his head though when he finished whipping his eyes and looked at his Digimon with determined, but slightly red, mocha coloured eyes.

"No! I can keep going!" He insisted in the way only a child could despite the fact he yawned once more at the end of his determined words. V-Mon giggled before his stomach once again rumbled reminding him of his problems.

"Get on my back Daisuke," V-Mon said as he crouched down. "We're going to go find some food and somewhere safe to settle down." V-Mon continued as the boy wrapped his arms around the Digimon's neck and pulled himself up just as V-Mon slipped his arms underneath the boy's knees.

"Okay but you won't push yourself, will you V-Mon? I don't want you to be too tired because of me." Daisuke admitted but he then giggled when V-Mon jostled him slightly as he straightened up.

"Quit worrying! Carrying you is no sweat to me!" V-Mon boasted with a cheeky grin causing Daisuke to giggle once more. After making sure Daisuke was secured safely on his back V-Mon started walking once more, unaware of the sinister yellow eyes watching the two from the trees.

* * *

The group followed Tentomon through the trees and it wasn't long until the lake came into view. To them, it looked perfectly normal except for the electric poles scattered in the water.

"Wow! It's huge!" Takeru gasped in awe as he stood on tiptoes trying to see to the other side but it was impossible. Surrounded the lake was a huge collection of mountains and the way they formed the group assumed they went surrounded the lake in a circle.

"A lake this is big is perfect for us to camp out next to," Sora said as she rested her hands on hips and Biyomon nodded in agreement with a happy smile. Mimi though was less thrilled with this revelation.

"Wait! Does this mean we have to sleep outside?" She whimpered pitifully while giving Taichi a pleading look as if to make him come to a different conclusion.

"Looks like it," Taichi said with a shrug not all affected by her puppy dog eyes. After getting into trouble because of Hikari and Daisuke giving him one of those looks he had long since learned to ignore them.

"If I won't sit on this floor what makes you think I'm going to sleep on it?" Mimi demanded and Taichi wasted no time in throwing her a dry look as the rest of the group started settling down.

"Well I don't see a hotel around here, do you, Mimi?" Taichi countered causing Mimi to cross her arms with a loud huff. Her lips pursed into a pout of frustration.

Before they could carry on arguing though the sound of static sounded catching the group's attention. Both Taichi and Mimi looked over and watched in shock as power slowly returned to the train like vehicle sitting near the age of the water.

"The power came on!" Joe pointed out causing Koushirou to scratch at his red hair with confusion clear on his face.

"How? It's not connected to the power lines." He pointed out and just as he said the vehicle was attached to the power lines that were set up in the lake.

"What is it Onii-chan?" Takeru questioned as he tugged on Yamato's shirt to get his attention. Yamato bit his lip to stop him answering the boy in a cruel way, after all, trams weren't very common where he lived.

"It's a tram Takeru. They're like trains except they run on power lines through the cities." Yamato explained simply and Takeru released a sound of interest.

"Maybe be someone is there," Sora suggested with a hopeful smile.

"Then let's check it out," Taichi suggested as he and Agumon took off running towards the new looking tram. The group weren't far behind him and by the time they had caught up Taichi had already walked through the door nearest the front which had automatically opened.

"It's empty." Taichi sighed in a disappointment as Sora and Koushirou entered through the middle door. Koushirou went down to his knees and slowly moved his gloved hands across the floor.

"It looks brand new! There aren't any scuff marks on the floor at all meaning we might be the first ones to come in here." Koushirou analysed as Mimi shoved passed Taichi and took a seat on one of the chairs.

"The cushions are so comfy! This is much better than sleeping on the dirty ground." Mimi sighed in bliss as she bounced slightly before leaning back against the rest behind her.

"But what is going on here? First, it was the telephones that seemed to dial us to anywhere but where we wanted, and now this tram that seems to be running on nothing." Taichi sighed as he fiddled with the strap of his goggles.

"This thing isn't going to move on its own is it?" Joe questioned from where he sat in the driver's seat fiddling with the controls. He couldn't help but smile though when Biyomon pressed her face right up against the glass.

"I don't think so. This thing needs tracks to run right?" Taichi asked Koushirou who by now had stood up beside the goggle-wearing boy.

"That's right. The tracks are different to ones that a train uses though. Tram tracks are made smaller so that they can be installed on the streets." Koushirou explained as Sora fell backwards onto another seat with a sigh of relief.

"That means it's safe to use right? This place is perfect for us to rest for the night." Sora pointed out while resting her arms on the back of her seat.

Tentomon buzzed over their heads before he settled down beside her. "Do you think we can eat something now Koushirou-han? I'm very hungry." Tentomon admitted causing Taichi to snap his fingers in realisation.

"That's right. I forgot about that."

* * *

The group had decided to split up and collect as many different items that were safe for them to eat and maybe store for in their bags for a few days.

Koushirou was given the task of catching some fish for them to cook that night and Takeru tagged along despite being so tired. He had never been camping before so learning to fish from someone as smart as Koushirou seemed like a requirement to the eight-year-old.

"Gomamon! Please stop swimming in the lake; you're scaring away all the fish!" Koushirou complained as Gomamon once again swam right by where Koushirou's makeshift fishing line was resting in the water.

"Why would that scare them away?" Takeru questioned as he watched Gomamon laugh loudly before diving under the water.

"It's the same reason why we can't move or make too much noise. The fish can sense vibrations in the water and they move away from them." Koushirou explained as he reeled in his line slightly before recasting it with a grunt.

Just in the first brush of trees behind the pair were Patamon, Agumon, Gabumon and Biyomon. The four were standing underneath a tree that had bananas growing healthy on them. Standing on Agumon's head Patamon took a deep breath.

" **AIR SHOT**!"

With Patamon's powerful attack quite a few bunches of bananas fell to the ground with small thumps. One though, struck Gabumon hard on the head causing him to cry out.

"Wow! That breath of yours is lethal, Patamon!" Biyomon laughed as she flew up into the tree to get some of the less ripe bunches as Sora had instructed.

"But you don't need to use your powers just go get some fruit. Save your strength." Gabumon lectured reasonably and Patamon nodded in understanding.

A few feet away from them was Palmon and Mimi, together the two of them were looking at a bunch of brown coloured mushroom that was growing out of the ground.

"These ones are safe to eat. They should last a little while too as long as we keep them covered." Palmon explained before she spotted Mimi reaching out for a different bunch of mushrooms, these ones were the same colour but they had bright red spots covering the top of them.

"Don't pick those ones, Mimi. Those ones are poisonous; they can make you very sick just by touching them." Palmon warned as the young girl snatched her hands back with a small gasp. She grinned though as she looked at her partner.

"That flower on your head isn't just for show then, huh? I'd be completely lost without your help Palmon." Mimi gushed with a giggle causing Palmon to look to the side bashfully while rubbing the back of her head.

While the others were gathering as much food supplies as possible Sora, Yamato and Taichi were building a fire pit. Taichi stood back to his feet while patting his hands clear of dirt as Yamato carefully filled the small ditch Taichi had just dug with twigs and branches.

"Cooking fuel is good and all but we haven't got anything to light it." Taichi pointed out as he slipped his gloves back on his hands. Sora carefully walked over to them with an armful of small pebbles that she was quick to drop to the floor with a small huff.

"Well, we'll have to do it the old fashion way then." She retorted kindly as she surrounded the small ditch with the pebbles to avoid the fire from spitting at them.

"I'll light it for you!" Agumon suddenly shouted before shooting a small baby flame at the collection of twigs causing the three to jump back slightly in shock.

"Hey, thanks, Agumon!" Taichi laughed in gratitude as he reached over and rubbed Agumon's head roughly.

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan! Look how many fish we managed to catch!" Takeru shouted as he Koushirou carefully carried a giant leaf between. Sitting in the centre of the leaf, which was acting like a small hammock, was a medium size pile of multicoloured fish.

"That's great! Well done you two." Taichi praised as he walked over and carefully took the part Takeru was holding his hand. With his free hand, he scrubbed the small boy's head causing him to giggle happily.

"That will be more than enough for all us tonight," Sora said as the leaf was carefully set down to avoid the fish from spilling to the ground.

Yamato grabbed two branches of the ground and with an easy hand, he slipped the branches into two fishes he picked from the pile. Checking they were firmly stuck he walked over to the fire where Taichi was looking at his own fish with a lost expression.

"Eggs are as far as my cooking skills go," Taichi admitted as he waved the fish over the fire while holding onto the tail fins. Yamato shook his head before kicking a stick over to the brunet.

"You'll hurt yourself doing it that way. Use a stick, like this." Yamato ordered as he held out his own pair of fish on sticks over the fire. Biting his lip Taichi carefully copying Yamato's own movement and soon enough he was holding his own lunch over the fire.

It took a little while before everyone was finally settled down around the fire and enjoy their collection of fish and fruit.

"This is delicious Koushirou-han," Tentamon admitted happily as he happily reached for a couple more bananas. Beside him, Koushirou gave his own hum of agreement as he nibbles on his well-cooked fish.

"Onii-chan it's rude to eat with your hands. Kaa-chan told me I should only eat with my chopsticks." Takeru murmured as he fiddled with the stick while nibbling on his lip in worry.

"We haven't got any though Takeru, so you'll have to make do." Yamato pointed out as he took a bite of his own fish trying to encourage the younger boy. Takeru though continued to look worried.

"Onii-chan…"

"Takeru it's fine! Now eat your fish!" Yamato ordered sternly but as soon as he saw Takeru flinch away from him slightly he looked away with a sigh.

"Hey, Takeru it's alright. I'm sure your Okaa-san would rather you eat something instead of starving, right?" Taichi asked lightly and Takeru looked at him in thought.

"I guess so," Takeru answered back reluctantly but when Taichi smiled at him calmly the boy fully relaxed and dug into his fish with relish.

It was like a kick in the teeth for Yamato. Takeru argued with him but when Taichi said it was alright then he'd eat without objection?

"Just because you've lost your little brother don't try and steal mine," Yamato muttered to himself as he went to take another bite of his fish. He didn't have a chance though as the next thing he knew he was lying on his back with a slight metallic taste in his mouth.

"Tai! Taichi stop!" Sora shouted as she quickly hauled the furious brunet away from the wounded blonde as he went to punch him again. With an experienced hand, she forcibly turned him around and gave him a small push towards the forest.

"Go calm down." She ordered making sure to keep her voice calm and reassuring. Taichi turned to look at her furiously as his hands clenched repeatedly at his side.

"You're taking his side?! Didn't you hear what he said?!" Taichi demanded snarl as Sora placed a hand on his chest to stop him charging for Yamato once more. Years of being the voice of reason every time Taichi lost his temper though gave Sora a much-needed advantage in this situation.

"Yes I did hear it and it was completely out of line. But starting a fight is not the answer!" Sora retorted as she slowly herded Taichi further away from the group. Agumon suddenly appeared beside Taichi and took his hand into his own.

"Come on Taichi. Let's go somewhere else for a bit. When you're calmer we'll come back okay?" Agumon suggested with a gentle smile. Taichi grit his teeth before his shoulders slumped down as he sighed.

"Okay."

"Don't go too far," Sora warned as she watched the two walk off even as Taichi waved a hand at her in acknowledgement. Watching them go Sora took a deep breath before looking at Yamato sternly with her hands on her hips.

Yamato ran a hand across his lips to whip off the last bit of blood from where he had bitten his lip. He knew he was going to get a bruise coming up soon as Taichi had put a lot of strength behind that punch.

"I know alright. That was stupid of me." Yamato admitted with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"That was very stupid of you. You know how Tai is when it comes to his siblings, why did you think it was a good idea to attack him there?" Sora demanded but Yamato simply shrugged shamefully.

Despite being in a different class Taichi's temper was something that was well known around the school. Normally the soccer player was an easy going person, always welcoming everyone with a smile and a joke. But when his siblings became involved Taichi become so overprotective that if you even snickered at one of them you would end with a black eye.

"Yamato-kun!"

"I don't know okay?! Just leave me alone!" Yamato growled as he threw his stick into the fire and proceeded to stomp away from the group.

"Onii-chan!" Takeru cried out in shock as he dropped his unfinished fish to the ground and quickly took off after his retreating brother, with Gabumon and Patamon following behind.

The remaining children and Digimon stared blankly in the direction they went before Sora suddenly huffed and threw herself to the ground.

"Boys! Why do they have to make things so difficult?!" She exclaimed before taking a vicious bite out of her piece of fish, which Biyomon had given to her.

* * *

It was almost pitch black now and V-mon could tell by the slight additional weight on his back that Daisuke had finally lost his fight with sleep. The boy didn't snore but every time he breathed out his nose would make a strange squeaking noise, it adorable and if he wasn't so tense V-mon would appreciate it more.

Unfortunately, with the exhaustion and hungry raging against his body V-mon was feeling not only incredibly tense but paranoid too. To him, every step felt like it gained the attention of a thousand territorial Digimon despite how quietly he walked.

"Ah!" V-Mon suddenly cried out as his foot caught a loose root and almost sent him tumbling to the ground. Lucky enough he managed to regain his balance but when Daisuke stirred on his back he knew it was time to stop.

Scanning the area with weary red eyes V-Mon released a relieved sigh when saw the area was clear. With careful movements, he slowly lowered Daisuke to the ground and resting him against a thick tree trunk. Daisuke grumbled slightly in his throat before he curled up tightly in a ball still deeply asleep.

"Now some food," V-Mon whispered to himself as he once again scanned the area and the trees. Lucky enough he found a tree holding a couple of bunches of bananas, and with a quick V-Headbutt V-Mon had gathered up a small pile enough to keep them both going until tomorrow.

"Daisuke. Come and get something to eat and then you can get some sleep." V-Mon called out as he quickly separated what they could eat tonight. When no answer came he sighed before jumping to his feet.

"Daisuke." He called out again as he turned to look where his partner had fallen asleep only to freeze as his eyes locked onto tear filled mocha ones.

Daisuke screamed from behind the green vine that had wrapped around his body and gagged him but V-mon couldn't react fast enough before something smashed into him sending him flying to the floor with a loud crash.

"To think I would come upon such an amazing find in the weak part of this Forrest. You two will make a delicious meal for me." The Digimon purred sadistically as it slivered out of the shadows and into the sunlight.

It looked like a miscoloured sunflower with a sharp-fanged smile, its body was made up of bright green fines that were completely covered in thorns. On its back, it had a collection of big purple leaves and finally on four of the front vines sat four mini heads that looked exactly like the main one but without eyes.

"Let go of my partner!" V-Mon grunted as he painfully pushed himself to his feet, his red eyes narrowed in a furious glare. The Digimon simply laughed as he held the six-year-old out of V-Mon's reach not all fazed by how much the boy wiggled to get free.

"Such an adorable Child Digimon. You really think you stand a chance against me? My name is Blossomon and I'm a Perfect Level Digimon. Do you really think you can even touch me with your power?" The newly identified Blossomon laughed mockingly.

V-Mon clenched his fists tightly as he once again locked eyes with Daisuke. Tears were trailing down the six-year-old's cheeks as he fought to get free even though the thorns pricked at his skin with every movement.

" **HYPER PUNCH**!" V-Mon shouted as he swung his arms at such speed that they looked like blue and white disks. Using his arms like shields V-Mon charged forward deflecting each vine Blossomon threw at him.

Panting the blue Digimon skidded backwards as his arms hung limply beside him. He knew he wouldn't be able to use that attack for quite some time. His arms ached all the way from his shoulders down to his fingers and until he got used to it that attack will have to be used with care.

"Well, you are full of surprises," Blossomon admitted bringing V-Mon out of his thoughts and to his dismay the Digimon wasn't even a little bit breathless. He hadn't even loosened his grip on Daisuke if anything it had become just a bit tighter as Daisuke wasn't even able to wiggle now.

"Unfortunately for you, so am I.  **SPIRAL FLOWER**!" Blossomon shouted as he flicked his four front vines sharply. V-Mon's eyes widened as he quickly ducked to avoid being sliced by one of the mini heads that had suddenly become a very sharp weapon. Quickly dodging the other three vines V-Mon barely managed to jump back as a sharply spiked vine smashed into the ground where he was just standing.

"You are fast, I praise you for that. But I'm getting hungry and this youngling is bursting with so much power I could probably Digivolve after feeding." Blossomon rambled needlessly as he continued flinging his vines towards V-Mon. They never hit him but they were very quickly tiring him out.

Suddenly V-Mon stumbled and Blossomon smirked as he swung his vine sharply and struck the blue lizard Digimon in the stomach sending him flying backwards. Daisuke screamed from behind his gag as V-mon landed on the hard ground with a sickening crash.

"Young Digimon are so amusing. Especially those with a lot of power. They think they can take on the world, it's so much fun crushing them into the dirt." Blossomon mused as the dust slowly settled revealing V-Mon painfully pushing himself to his feet.

"Heh," Blossomon smirked before he suddenly moved two vines in front of him and pushed the ends together. A glow of green surrounded the ends before Blossomon separated them to show that he now held a strangely shaped parcel in his hands made of pink flower petals.

" **POLLINO-** "

" **BEAST-KING FIST**!" A loud and furious voice roared out from the trees. Blossomon only had time to look at him in shock before a lion's face made of bright energy smashed into him and sent him flying into a tree with a loud smash.

Daisuke gasped as he was released but before he even had a chance to realise he was falling he found himself caught by a pair of very big paws.

"Leomon…you…" Blossomon grunted furiously as he tried to recover from the sneak attack that had completely taken his breath away. Leomon looked at him with stern eyes that made the Plant Digimon freeze in place.

"I believe I told you not to wander around these parts Blossomon. There are no Digimon with enough power to satisfy your hunger. Digimon in these parts are, at most, Child Level. When they become Adult Level they move on, that is how things are done around here." Leomon lectured with a soft growl. Despite the fact he was very obviously furious he didn't raise his voice once.

"Che." Blossomon scoffed before retreating into the trees. He managed to throw Leomon one more glare before he was swallowed by the darkness of the forest.

The area around them fell silent as Leomon crouched down and carefully placed Daisuke back down on his feet. The six-year-old shifted with a wince as the small cuts covering stung and it took a lot of effort for him not to start crying.

"It's not safe to wander around this forest at night. Despite my repeated warnings powerful Digimon still comes here looking for a chance to get stronger. With your power, you two need to be careful." Leomon explained as V-Mon stumbled over to him and pulled Daisuke into a relieved hug.

"Why? Why did he want to eat us? Digimon don't do that!" V-Mon insisted fiercely causing Leomon to sigh sadly.

"Such innocence, it is both a happy and sad things during these times. Things are not how they use to be, young one. Times are tough, food is scarce and now Digimon have resorted to consuming other Digimon's data just to stay strong. It is dark times that we are going through." Leomon bemoaned as V-Mon swallowed hard.

"That's…that's horrible." The young Digimon whispered quietly and Leomon nodded in full agreement.

"But it is how it is. You two are strong and you both need time to recover. So I will stay with you until you are safely out of this forest." Leomon stated before holding his paw up as V-Mon went to object.

"You have no strength left, young one. Soon enough you will De-Digivolve and your partner will quickly become a meal to other strong Digimon in the area." Leomon pointed out and to that V-mon couldn't object to.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Taichi to calm down enough to return to the group. He was planning on apologising to Yamato but when he saw that the two blonde brothers were missing, he decided it was best to leave it for now.

After finishing their fish Sora dragged Taichi off with her to gather some water in the small pile of soda cans the group had collected. Silently to two washed out the sticky leftovers from the cans before starting to fill them up properly, while they won't be able to travel with them for long they would do for a little while.

"You know he didn't mean to make you angry right?" Sora drawled with a heavy sigh as she finally got sick of the strained silence between them. Taichi grit his teeth and clenched his fist around the can he held before he released his own heavy sigh.

"I know but he still had no right to say those things about Daisuke. Especially since he can't even talk to his own little brother without frightening him." Taichi muttered as he quickly put the can on the ground to avoid crushing it by accident.

"Tai…" Sora warned softly and Taichi looked away from her with a quiet scoff.

"Tai, Yamato-kun hasn't been a big brother for as long as you have, meeting up at camp was the first time he and Takeru-kun have seen each other in a very long time. He's still learning. So seeing you deal with Takeru-kun so easily was, I guess, a bit irritating for him. He got jealous." Sora explained as he carefully filled up the last can with water. Silence fell between the two before Taichi released an irritated groan.

"Fine. Fine I'll give him a bit of slack." Taichi conceded reluctantly as he carefully picked up four of the filled up cans while Sora picked up the remaining three.

"But if he insults my ability to take care of Daisuke again then I'm going to punch him. I'm not joking Sora." Taichi warned and Sora could only sigh. She knew that was the best she was going to get from Taichi on the matter.

"Fine but I'm pretty sure he's learned not to do that now," Sora reassured before a sigh was heard from behind them. The two looked up just in time to see Joe joining them at the river bank looking up at the night sky.

"What's the matter, Joe-Senpai?" Sora questioned as she carefully stood to her feet making sure not to drop any of the cans. Joe sighed again before he finally looked at them with a sad smile.

"I was trying to estimate where we are exactly but I can't find the North Star." He admitted causing both Taichi and Sora to look up at the stars above them. The entire night sky was filled with stars of all different sizes but none of them looked familiar to the pair.

"You're right. I don't see any familiar constellations." Sora admitted in worry and Taichi hummed in agreement as he slowly turned in a circle while keeping his eyes on the stars.

"That's odd. You only see the North Star from the Northern Hemisphere right?" Taichi suddenly pointed out and Sora was quick to catch his train of thought.

"Then maybe we're in the Southern Hemisphere." She suggested but Joe shook his head as he placed his hands on his hips and turned to face his underclassmen.

"That can't be right, I don't see the Southern Cross." Joe pointed out before he shrugged in slight embarrassment

"To be honest I'm starting to agree with Koushirou and his theory that we might not be on earth anymore."

The sound of footsteps suddenly appeared and the trio looked over just in time to see Yamato return to camp with a sleeping Takreu on his back. Walking beside him faithfully was Gabumon with Patamon happy sleeping in his arms.

"Oh Yamato, you're back." Taichi pointed out and the blonde simply nodded with a grunt as he carefully lowered Takreu to the ground beside the fire. The younger blonde barely stirred at the change, only smacking his lips together before curling up on his side.

Taichi watched this silently before he allowed himself to look around at the rest of the group. Palmon and Tentomon were already asleep using each other as supports; Gomamon wasn't far off as the seal Digimon struggled to keep his eyes open.

Mimi seemed to be sleeping with her eyes open as she sat by the fire with her legs pulled to her chest and beside her Koushirou had taken to pacing to try and fight off the exhaustion. Watching them reminded Taichi of his own creeping tiredness and he couldn't stop himself from yawning.

"We should probably get to sleep, who knows what kind of things come out at night around here." Taichi pointed out as he placed his filled cans carefully on the ground near where the group had set up camp. Sora made a noise of agreement as she followed his example to get rid of her own load of cans.

"We probably should have someone stand guard then. As you said we don't know what things are nocturnal around here." Koushirou pointed out logically and despite it being the most unappealing idea there was no way to argue against it.

"That's a good idea. We should probably make an order then on who watches when. Also who exactly are going to be the ones on watch?" Joe asked and Sora smiled with a shrug.

"Isn't it obvious? We older kids should be the ones on watch. It isn't fair to make someone Takeru-kun's age to watch out for danger and Mimi-chan would just complain the whole time." Sora suggested.

"I would like to be included in the group to keep watch, Sora-san. If that's alright with you?" Koushirou requested before he covered a yawn behind his hand.

"Okay about this, Koushirou-kun. You need to sleep, you can barely stand up and there's no point in denying that. So you can go on one of the later watches, how about that?" Sora asked and Koushirou was more than happy to agree with that arrangement.

"I'll take the first watch then." Taichi volunteered and both Joe and Sora nodded in agreement. Yamato though couldn't see why and couldn't help himself as he joined the small group.

"Why? Why can't someone else get first watch? I'd be happy to do it." Yamato asked and was rewarded with Taichi glaring at him with angry brown eyes. Seeing where this was heading Sora was quick to step in.

"At the moment Agumon is the only one who can Digivolve. Meaning that if we are attacked then both he and Tai need to be at top strength. By taking the first watch they get more of a chance to rest when the rest of us are on watch." Sora explained and Joe smiled as he placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"It's not an insult, Yamato. It's just the most logical choice we've got at the moment." Joe reassured. Yamato couldn't help but scoff slightly before he turned back to where Takeru was sleeping soundly.

"I'll take the watch after Taichi then. Try not to get us killed till then, okay?" He taunted with a smirk as he carefully picked up Takeru and started making his way over to the tram.

Taichi grit his teeth as he clenched his hands at his side and tried to control his anger. "That guy..."

"He doesn't mean anything by it, Tai. Just let it go." Sora chided and waited for him to take a couple of deep breaths before sighing herself.

"We better get on the tram anyway and get some sleep ourselves. Be carefully Tai, don't do anything reckless." Sora warned as she waved Biyomon over to her which the pink bird Digimon happily did.

"Ha! Me? Being reckless? What are you blabbering about Sora? I'm the most careful guy in the world." Taichi boasted causing Sora to roll her eyes as she walked away, not at all bothering to reply or object to his statement.

Following Yamato Sora, Joe, Koushirou and Mimi made their way to the waiting tram with dragging steps.

"Taichi?" Agumon questioned from where he sat in front of the fire allowing the flames to warm his feet. Taichi made a humming sound as he plopped down beside his Digimon with a huff.

"What exactly does 'keeping watch' mean exactly?" Agumon asked causing Taichi to blink before he chuckled.

"It means exactly that Agumon. It's our job to watch out for any danger that may be out tonight. We've got to keep the group that's sleeping, safe." Taichi explained as he picked up a stick beside him and carefully poked at the fire.

"So we've just got to sit here all night? That doesn't sound very fun at all." Agumon grumbled and Taichi grinned as he pulled his legs to his chest and allowed his arms to cross over them.

"Not everything can be fun Agumon. Sometimes you've got to make sacrifices to protect the people you care about. Like your friends or family."

"Then I'm going to keep watch so I protect you Taichi! You're my partner after all." Agumon grinned happily at the brunet with his eyes closed. Taichi blinked owlishly in shock before he reached over to rub Agumon's head with a soft smile.

"Thanks, pal."

* * *

Inside the tram, the kids each picked out a seat for the night as the Digimon rested on a pile of leaves in the middle on the floor.

"I'm used to sleeping in a bed…" Mimi whined quietly as she placed her hat beside her on the bench before fiddling with her gloves. Sora smiled softly as she took off her own hat and placed it beside her.

"We should consider ourselves lucky we even have a place to sleep tonight. If we haven't found this place we would be sleeping outside." She pointed out softly causing Mimi to look down without any more objections.

"Good night," Koushirou called out as he pulled his legs onto his seat. His well wishes were echoed by both and Joe and Takeru as the group slowly settled down to sleep.

'I hope that no monsters attack us tonight.' Sora thought to herself as she allowed her dark red eyes to shut even as she stayed upright in her seat.

'I really wanted a bath.' Mimi thought to herself wistfully as she found it a lot easier than she expects to start dozing off. Having slept in a big room on her own her whole life she would never have thought the sounds of her fellow campers breathing was enough to soothe her frazzled nerves.

'It'll be a long day tomorrow, what with spending it with everyone here.' Koushirou thought to himself as he thought back to how on edge everyone has been since they awoke in this place. Hopefully, a good night sleep would be enough to calm them all down.

'I hope that when I wake up, I'll be in my bed again.' Joe thought to himself wistfully as he took off his glasses and slipped them into his pocket. He knew it was very unlikely that this was all a dream but he could still hope.

Near the end of the tram, and away from the others, Yamato sat with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Sitting faithfully by his side was Gabumon who was close to nodding off when Yamato suddenly nudged him.

"What? What is it Yamato?" Gabumon asked tiredly as he looked up at his partner with sleepy eyes. Yamato stayed silently for a couple of seconds before finally looking at his Digimon with cold blue eyes.

"Go sit with Takeru."

"Why?" Gabumon questioned even as he started pushing himself forward to jump down from the seat. It was obvious he was going to follow throw with the order, he just wanted an explanation.

"You're making me sweat sleeping next to me," Yamato grumbled causing Gabumon to snicker as he jumped down to the floor.

"You just want me to keep Takeru warm." He teased cheekily. Yamato looked away with a scoff before standing to his feet with a huff.

"I never said that."

"That's because you're too shy."

"Look who's talking!"

It was obvious that Gabumon had gotten past Yamato's barriers easily enough. Watching the Digimon pulled himself close to Takeru Yamato wondered why he wasn't bothered by that.

Takeru stirred and opened his eyes slightly just in time to see Gabumon thrown his arm over both him and Patamon. Immediately the warmth from his fur warmed both of them up nicely and Patamon even let out a small purr.

"Thank you Onii-chan." Takeru whispered as he allowed himself to be pulled back to his dreams. Yamato kept his back to the group as his cheeks flushed a faint pink.

'Is this…what it means to take care of someone?' Yamato thought to himself before he allowed his eyes to drift outside.

The fog was lifting now allowing him to clearly see the light from the campfire. As the power to the tram shut off Yamato narrowed his eyes.

* * *

The fire cracked quietly as it slowly burned up the small pile of branches that Leomon had managed to gather together.

Beside him V-mon grumbled in his sleep as he tightened his hold on his sleeping partner, Daisuke merely sniffed slightly before once again burying his face into V-Mon's chest.

Leomon wondered how it came to this. He never had any intentions of making his presence known to these two, he had planned to protect them safely from the shadows.

Instead, he had revealed himself and saved the exhausted V-mon before promising to accompany the two until they joined back up with their team.

"Is this what he meant?" Leomon whispered to himself before he sighed and looked up towards the night sky.

"Leomon?" A small voice suddenly called out and Leomon looked down to see Daisuke awake and looking at him. Leomon was slightly impressed he hadn't even heard the small human move let alone detect the change in his breathing.

"What is it? You should be sleeping. Who knows how far the rest of your group has gotten now." Leomon warned in an aloof manner but Daisuke didn't seem fazed by it. He simply shrugged as he spared V-mon a look.

"How do you know there are others? I'm not even sure if Aniki is here." Daisuke admitted reluctantly. As much as he like spending time with V-mon and slowly meeting other Digimon the thought of being here all alone was very frightening for him. Especially when a part of him just wanted to curl up in fear and hide somewhere.

"Just like V-mon knew he was to be your partner, the entire Digital World knew the ones who are meant to save it would soon arrive here. Not many knew that you would be human, some Digimon doesn't even know what a human is, but we knew that someone was coming to save us from these dark times." Leomon explained before he smiled down at the boy with soft blue eyes.

"You are not alone here, young one. Not only is V-mon here for you but there are more humans out there with their own partners just waiting for you to join up with them." Leomon reassured as he looked back up at the night sky. Daisuke smiled as he quickly rubbed his wrist across his eyes to stop the stinging of tears.

Silence fell across the small camp before Leomon once again jolted in place. Looking down in shock he was greeted with the sight of Daisuke leaning up against his side and snuggling close.

Blinking owlishly Leomon slowly allowed himself to relax at the intrusion of his personal space. Daisuke was small warm weight against his side and the lion Digimon found himself relaxing to it.

Returning his attention to the forest surrounding them Leomon careful adjusted himself so his arm was covering the small six years old. The satisfied sigh caused Leomon to nod to himself in satisfaction.

"I guess this isn't so bad." He grunted himself quietly before returning his vigil of the forest. No Digimon were going to attack these two tonight, Leomon would make sure of it.

* * *

The fog has long since cleared as Taichi mindlessly poked at the fire in front of him. Watching the sparks dance in the air he couldn't stop himself from yawning widely, only just managing to cover his mouth with his hand.

"If you fall asleep then you won't be keeping watch anymore Taichi." Agumon teased as Taichi rubbed his eye lightly.

"The hour is almost up anyway. I'll just wash my face with some water." The boy decided as he pushed himself to his feet and walked over the water's edge.

Mindlessly Taichi slipped off his gloves leaving just his black brace resting firmly against his left arm, the result of getting too cocky during soccer practice last summer.

Cupping his hands into the water the boy was quick to splash it onto his face before he shivered slightly from the chill off it. Taking a deep breath Taichi shook the last of his sleepiness off before pushing himself to his feet.

Footsteps suddenly sounded behind him but when Taichi turned to look all he saw was Yamato slowly walked over to him at a steady pace.

"Oh, Yamato. It's not time to switch yet." Taichi pointed out as he whipped his damp hands down his shirt to try and dry them. Yamato had stopped near the edge of the water and was looking out at it with a frown.

"I couldn't sleep." He finally admitted after a couple of minutes of silence. Taichi quietly stood next to him but kept his attention on his hands as he slipped his gloves back on.

"I'm…I'm sorry for earlier." Yamato finally choked out with his hands clenched hard by his side. Taichi swallowed before shaking his head.

"It's alright. I shouldn't have reacted like that."

"I'm always like this you know? Pushing my problems on other peoples or picking on other people's problems just so I can ignore my own. Maybe that's why Takeru is so attached to you." Yamato decided with a lifeless shrug. Taichi fell silent as he tried to think how he should respond to that.

Situations like this had never been a strong point for him, it always made him feel uncomfortable when his friend's tried to tell him personal stuff but he wouldn't turn them away just because of that.

"Sora said that this is the first time you've seen Takeru in a long time." Taichi finally hinted causing Yamato to sigh before he nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. My parents divorced when we were really young and the two of us ended up getting separated. My  _hahaoya_  and Takeru moved to Setagaya, while myself and  _oyaji_  moved to Odaiba, it was pure luck we did meet up." Yamato explained before he suddenly turned and started walking back up the pathway towards the tram.

"I'll keep watch over here. You just keep watch of the forest." Yamato ordered as he waved his hand over his shoulder. Taichi watched him go before he sighed and made his way back to where Agumon was waiting.

"He's not such a bad guy huh?" Agumon pointed out as he wiggled his feet allowing the fire to warm them up nicely. Taichi didn't get a chance to answer though as a lovely sounding tune started playing from near the tram.

Taichi looked over and just near the edge of the water he could faintly make out Yamato sitting with his hands near his mouth.

"Sounds like a harmonica." He mused to himself having heard Hikari play one for a little while when she was three. It had sounded awful but it was better than the continuous one note her whistle could produce.

Yamato continued to play mindlessly as he allowed his eyes to close. He jumped slightly when he felt something warm rest against him but a quick look told him it was only Gabumon, likely awoken from the sound.

The sound was soothing enough that it sent Taichi into a slight doze for a couple of minutes. His brown eyes opened drowsily though when a strange popping sound reached his ears.

"What's that?" The boy asked as he pulled himself to his feet and looked over the water edge, near where Yamato was sitting with Gabumon. Taichi narrowed his eyes before blinking in shock as a flurry of bubbles appeared on the water edge when Yamato hit a high note.

"Something must be swimming in the water." Agumon pointed out as the bubbles stopped allowing the water to once again settle. Taichi hummed slightly in acknowledgement but didn't take his eyes off the water. Instead, he listened to the music Yamato was creating and waited for him to hit another high note.

His eyes never left the water as the high notes reached his ears; instead, they narrowed as they once again spotted a flurry of bubbles rising to the surface more viciously than before.

"Whatever's under there doesn't seem to like Yamato's harmonica. I better go tell him to stop it; we don't want to start something." Taichi said as he jumped to his feet and started jogging down the small bridge to where the group was resting.

The bubbles came up to the surface at a furious pace at every step Taichi took but his attention was completely locked on reaching Yamato.

"Yamato! Cut that out, will you? You're going to wake the Digimon!" Taichi called out as he waved his hand in the air. Completely lost in his thoughts Yamato continued to play causing Taichi to release a huff of frustration.

The ground began to rumble and shake as Taichi slowly made his way over to the blonde. Calling out Yamato's name once more Taichi made it halfway across the bridge just before Yamato hit one more hit note on his harmonica.

The reaction was instantaneous. With a loud roar, the small island shook violently sending Yamato and Gabumon to the floor from the force. The water bubbled furiously as the kids in the tram started screaming in fear.

Taichi was thrown violently to the ground with a grunt, his knees badly scraped and his wrist throbbed slightly from taking his weight. The small bridge continued to shake and rumble as the boy pushed himself to his feet and ran to the island.

His feet landed the much firmer surface just as the bridge crumbled and was swallowed by the river. Taichi took a couple of deep breaths before looking to where Agumon was waiting on the other side.

"Taichi! You okay?" Agumon shouted worriedly. Instead of answering Taichi simply held out his hand with a clear thumbs-up sign.

"Taichi!" Yamato shouted as he quickly jogged to where the other boy was with Gabumon following quickly behind. The shaking came to an abrupt stop leaving everything in silence. It wasn't a good silence, it was like being in the eye of a storm and it made Taichi nervous.

"Tai!"

"Onii-chan!"

Taichi and Yamato both looked up as Sora and Takeru ran over to them with panic clear on their faces. Joe, Mimi and Koushirou also made their way out of the tram but they stayed near Joe when he insisted on it.

"Are you two alright? Taichi, you're bleeding!" Sora pointed out as she noticed the newly acquired scraps on Taichi's knees. Behind them, Yamato huffed as Takeru threw himself into his chest and then proceeded to hug him tightly.

"We haven't got time for that now Sora," Taichi said sternly as he stopped the girl from examining his new injuries. Sora though was having none of that and was quick to shake off his hands before she crossed her own over her chest.

"Don't give me that Tai! You know very well with your medication you need to bandage up your wounds as soon as possible."

"Onii-chan what was that? Why did everything shake?" Takeru asked stopping what had been a long-term argument between the two friends. Yamato shook his head as he continued to scan the small island they were on.

"I don't know. We'll have to get Gomamon to help us back across though, the bridge was destroyed by it." Yamato pointed out as he noticed Agumon standing on the edge of the forest watching the group with worried eyes.

"Sora!" Biyomon suddenly chirped as she narrowed her eyes towards the water. A quick looked revealed both Gabumon and Patamon were doing the same.

"We've got trouble." Patamon squeaked just in time for the water to explode outwards with a furious roar. The children screamed as a shape formed from the water screaming up to the heavens above.

"A Digimon!" Sora cried out as the force of the roar made the island once again shake violently. The children were thrown to the ground as the Digimon shook itself free of the water.

The Digimon looked like a giant turquoise coloured snake with red stripes going down its body. It had what looked like a yellow coloured helmet covering its head and a pair of ice cold blue eyes.

"It's a Seadramon!" Tentamon suddenly called out from where he was hovering beside Koushirou. He had to raise his voice though to be heard over Joe's panic screamed as he clung to the tram.

"Seadramon is an Aquatic Adult Digimon with a long, serpentine body, which it uses to wreathe itself around enemies and constrict them until the enemy suffocates!"

"Oh, that's a lovely image!" Joe whimpered before yelping as the island suddenly gave a large lurch that sent them all to the floor again.

"Oh, you shouldn't worry! Seadramon are considered stupid Digimon, very rarely do they attack out of the water." Tentamon reassured as he hovered over Koushirou's head.

"Then what do you call what it's doing now?!" Sora screamed as she grabbed hold of Taichi's arm to stop herself from going back down to the floor. Taichi looked up at Digimon just in time to see it extract its red leaf-like tail from the rocks near where Yamato had been sitting.

"Oh! I understand now! It's Onii-chan's harmonica!" Takeru suddenly shouted as he remembered what he had learned while he was fishing with Koushirou. Yamato blinked in shock before he realised his little brother was right.

"The vibrations must have woken it up." He murmured as he slipped his hand into his pocket and gripped the instrument tightly. It was the one way for him to calm down when his emotions became too overwhelming but it had now put his little brother in danger? Yamato didn't know how to deal with this.

Seadramon growled as he gave its tail a shake before looking down at the group with furious eyes. It growled lowly before it reared its head back.

"Get back!" Taichi called urgently just as the Seadramon flung its head forward and fired a small wave of water that smashed into the ground in front of them with a small bang.

"Are all Digimon bad-tempered beside you lot?!" Yamato shouted in frustration as he kept a tight grip on Takeru to avoid him falling into the water.

"Taichi!" Agumon suddenly called out as he pointed his claw to where Taichi had strapped his Digivice. Taichi quickly understands, stood and took the device in his hands and pointing it towards Agumon.

Time seemed to stand still as Taichi was surrounded by an orange aura that quickly started feeding into the device.

"Agumon! Digivolve!"

 **(** _Activate OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

With courage clear in his eyes Taichi swiped his Digivice in front of him. Then Taichi thrust the device into the air as it started to hum.

"Lock on!" Taichi called out and his Digivice suddenly flashed to a bright orange for a couple of seconds before it shot out a bright orange beam straight at Agumon.

"Digivolution activate!" Taichi shouted and Agumon roared as he jumped into the air straight into the air while glowing bright orange.

Slowly Agumon felt himself stretching and growing, his skin became a dark orange with blue marks and his arms became shorter. A brown skull with a horn appeared on the top of his head as he grew till he was 9ft in height.

"Agumon... Digivolve too...GREYMON!" With that one loud roar, the dinosaur shattered the bubble like glass before landing on the sound with a loud bang.

 **(** _End OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

" **MEGA FLAME**!" Greymon roared as he fired a white coloured ball of fire straight into Seadramon's chest sending it crashing back into the lake. The sea serpent didn't stay down for long though and came back up with a furious roar.

"We need to get away from the edge," Sora said as she urged both Yamato and Takeru to move further back. Taichi also took a few steps but was more focused on his partner.

" **ICE BLAST**!" Seadramon suddenly screamed as it shot a beam of light towards the dinosaur. Greymon though simply jumped back and allowed the beam to crash to the floor, where it proceeded to freeze the ground completely.

"Watch it Greymon!" Taichi called out as Greymon stumbled slightly from his jump. In his Adult form Greymon was more for power than speed so dodging fast attacks were hard for him.

Seadramon and Greymon called out their attacks once more but this time they collided with each other with a small boom.

"I won't let you harm Taichi," Greymon growled firmly as he adjusted his stance ever so slightly. The island had floated close enough now that he could jump over to where the children were but with Seadramon there he was more than likely to be blasted out of the air.

Seadramon rumbled quietly as its eyes watched Greymon before flickering over to the group. It scanned them quickly before suddenly narrowing.

" **MEGA FLAME**!" Greymon roared as he fired off another one of his attacks but Seadramon quickly sunk into the water to avoid it.

"W-what?" Greymon rumbled in confusion as he realised Seadramon wasn't coming back up. He couldn't have driven him off that easily. His eyes suddenly snapped towards the island though as a horrible feeling shot through him.

"Taichi get back!" Greymon roared just before Seadramon's tail shot out of the water and wrapped around the google head's leg tightly. Taichi barely had a chance to shout before he was dragged under the water.

"Taichi!"

Taichi kept his hands clasped desperately over his mouth as Seadramon kept its tail tightly wrapped around his leg. Taichi tried kicking out but the effort of holding his breath was taking all his energy making his normally powerful hits simple taps.

'What is this? Why did it go after me?! Do I smell good to them or something?!' The boy thought to himself hysterically. Suddenly though he heard a strange breathy chuckle through the water around him.

'Was…was that Seadramon?'

" _Foolish land Digimon…assuming we don't understand…Seadramon understands enough!"_ Seadramon growled as he glared at Taichi with furious blue eyes. Seadramon's voice sounded both breathy and harsh, Taichi couldn't stop himself from gasping in shock as the Digimon's voice seemed to pierce his ears.

'No!' Taichi thought as water started filling in his lungs.

"Taichi!" Sora screamed as she tried desperately to dive in after him but Biyomon was keeping a very tight on her.

"No Sora! You'll only put yourself in danger!" Biyomon protested as she kept her wings wrapped tightly around Sora's waist. Greymon was scanning the water desperately before he suddenly groaned.

"Greymon?" Gabumon wondered worriedly as he spotted the dinosaur Digimon suddenly stumbling back from the water.

"I don't…" Greymon muttered before he suddenly glowed bright orange and started to shrink down. It only took a matter of seconds before the orange light cleared and Agumon was lying down on his front.

"Agumon!" Both Gabumon and Patamon shouted as they helplessly watch the now Child Digimon shake with pure exhaustion.

"T-Taichi…" Agumon muttered before unwillingly giving into his exhaustion and falling completely to the ground.

"A-Agumon just de-Digivolved…" Joe stuttered with a hard swallow as he quickly took in the state of the poor Digimon. Coming from a family of Doctors Joe easily recognized exhaustion when he saw it.

"But if Digivolving is connected to our power doesn't that mean…" Koushirou feebly pointing out what none of the children wanted to accept.

For Yamato though it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Sora! Hold on to Takeru and don't let him go no matter what!" Yamato ordered as he shoved the small boy into Sora's arms. The girl gasped in shock from the sudden weight but quickly stepped back when she saw how close to the edge she was.

"What? But Yamato-kun-!"

"I'm putting my trust in you with him, Sora," Yamato stated strongly causing the girl to fall silent. She stared into Yamato's eyes before her own narrowed in determination.

"Then I'm doing the same with you." Sora shot back as she wrapped her arms more securely around Takeru, who was beginning to struggle.

"Onii-chan…"

"Gabumon, keep them safe," Yamato ordered as he pulled out his harmonica from his pocket. Gabumon stayed silent before running up to the older blonde's side.

"You're my partner, Yamato. I'm not leaving your side." The lizard Digimon swore as he placed one of his hands on Yamato's leg. Blinking in shock Yamato stared at him for a couple of seconds before he scoffed and brought his harmonica to his lips.

"Then you distract Seadramon while I grab Taichi." Yamato conceded before taking a deep breath. He didn't need to play properly this time; he just needed to play a high enough note to affect the sea Digimon.

'One…two…three!' Yamato counted down in his head before giving his instrument a good hard blow.

"PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

* * *

Seadramon chuckled as the strange Digimon went limp on his grip. If his theory was right that should also take care of the Greymon on the shore, seeing as the Agumon had only Digivolved with the help of the humanoid Digimon.

Now, what to d-

_EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE_

" _This…This noise again! This horrible screeching noise!"_ Seadramon roared as he thrashed in the water trying to get away from the piercing noise blasting through its head.

_EEEEEEEEEEEEEE_

" _Make it stop!"_  Seadramon screeched furiously as he completely forgot about his captive and allowed his tail to release its grip.

_EEEEETTTTT!_

'Hikari?' Taichi thought to himself dazedly as the sounded pitted out from around him. His brown eyes opened slightly but he didn't have any strength to make his body move towards the surface.

'That noise just now…wasn't that…Hikari's whistle…?'

Seadramon roared furiously as he swam upwards before breaking through the surface. He didn't have a chance to charge his attack though as he struck by a spray of blue coloured fire.

" **MAGICAL FIRE**!" Biyomon screamed as she flapped her wings and formed the green twister of flames in front of her. Seadramon roared as he was once again struck but it left little damage.

With Seadramon distracted Yamato took the chance and dived down into the water. The lake was deeper than he thought but at the same not too difficult to manoeuvre down through.

'There!' He thought to himself triumphantly as he spotted Taichi floating not far from the surface. Quickly Yamato grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him up enough to get a good grip on his waist before he began to swim back up.

" **WATER BREATH**!" Seadramon screeched as he fired his attack at the child Digimon gathered but they easily jumped back just enough to avoid being hit.

" **PETIT FLAME!** " Gabumon roared as he fired his blue fire from the back of his throat. Seadramon screeched as he was struck once more before shaking its out head viscously.

Yamato gasped for air as he broke through the surface and beside him, Taichi immediately began coughing up the water he managed to swallow.

"Yamato…? What?" Taichi whispered as Yamato moved his arm so it was resting just under Taichi's chin, forcing the brunet to tilt his head back against his shoulder.

"Save it for later." Yamato cut in before the boy could get another word in and began swimming to the island, where he could see Sora and Takeru waiting for him.

" **ICE BLAST**!" Seadramon screeched as he blasted a pure white beam at the attacking Digimon. Gabumon managed to avoid it but Biyomon was struck and sent crashing to the ground at Sora's feet.

"Biyomon!" Sora cried out as she gathered the bird Digimon in her arms and watched in horror as Biyomon's right wing was quickly turned to ice.

Seadramon growled before focusing his attention over to where Yamato had managed to reach the island and was now helping Taichi to dry land.

" **ICE BLAST**!" Seadramon shouted with triumph as he quickly charged and fired another white beam.

"Taichi!" "Onii-chan!" Both Sora and Takeru screamed as they realised the target of the beam was the two helpless near the edge. Yamato's eyes widened in shock and before he realised it he was covering Taichi with his own body.

'Why…am I going so far for you?' Yamato faintly thought to himself before clenching his eyes shut tightly.

" **PETIT FLAME!** "

A loud boom echoed around the lake as dust brushed over Yamato's form. He waited for a couple of seconds before opening his eyes only for them to widen in shock.

"G-Gabumon!" The blonde shouted as he saw the blue pelted lizard standing on guard in front of him, ice quickly spreading over his body.

"I told you…Yamato. You're my partner…so I'm not leaving your side…" Gabumon grinned even as his legs became completely frozen.

Yamato knew he was gasping for breath as tried to work out what was going on. Everything was happening so fast, too many emotions were rushing through him all at once.

Why did he want to save Taichi?

Why did he trust Sora with Takeru?

Why did Gabumon still continue to go to such lengths even after knowing who he was?!

He was Yamato Ishida! He only spares enough feelings for Takeru and even then it's very little. No one wants to know him, not even his own mother!

So why…why does this Digimon go such lengths…

"…to protect me…" Yamato whispered faintly as he pushed himself to his feet. He took a stumbling step forward before collapsing to his knees just in just to catch the almost frozen Digimon.

"Why? I don't understand!" Yamato growled to himself as he felt himself shake just from holding Gabumon's freezing form. Gabumon looked at him before smiling his normal toothy grin.

"Because…Yamato is my very best friend." Gabumon stated simply before the ice completely froze him over. Yamato's eyes widened in horror as silence settled over the lake.

"Yamato-kun..." Sora whispered mournfully with tears in her eyes. Takeru had started sobbing while holding Patamon tightly in her arms.

"This can't be happening…" Mimi whispered to herself as she hugged Palmon close to her chest, Joe doing a similar to Gomamon behind her as he stared over at Yamato in shock.

"Friend?" Yamato suddenly whispered quietly before he bowed his head and clenched his eyes shut tightly. His form shook violently as strangled noise broke free from his grinding teeth.

"Ga….GABUMON!" Yamato suddenly screamed out in anguish as he buried his face into the Digimon's frozen chest.

A beat of silence. Then…

" **Do you finally understand the meaning of Friendship, my child?** " A soft but noble voice suddenly whispered in Yamato's ear causing his eyes to shoot open in shock.

His Digivice gave off a loud screech before both he and Gabumon were surrounded by a blinding light.

"Onii-chan!" Takeru cried out in panic but Sora was quick to stop him from running forward.

* * *

Yamato allowed his eyes to flutter open before he quickly scanned his surroundings. He was no longer at the lake or at least the lake from before. He was now standing on a completely frozen lake with snow covered trees surrounding him.

"Where am I?" He questioned as he realises despite it being a frozen location he didn't at all feel cold, in fact, this place felt warm like he was finally home.

" **This is your soul, my child. Here is where your strongest Virtue resides.** " The same soft but noble-sounding voice echoed around him. It was much closer now and Yamato could easily tell identify it as female, properly someone who comes from higher class.

"Virtue? What do you mean? And what about Gabumon? He was with me but now he's not, where is he?!" Yamato rappelled questioned before forcing himself to take a deep breath.

" **Sadness, grief, betrayal, abandonment and anger are all emotions you need to go through to properly understand your Virtue. But at the time, dive too deep into these emotions and your greatest Virtue could very easily become your greatest Sin.** " The voice explained softly and Yamato bit his lip as he tried to process this information.

"What is my Virtue?" Yamato finally questioned and was rewarded with a soft laugh. It was a nice laugh; it reminded Yamato of his mother before everything changed.

" **It should be obvious. It's something you've only just started to experience, something that's causing you to do things that you wouldn't normally do, trust people you normally wouldn't and feel things you normally ignore."** The voice

" _Because…Yamato is my very best friend."_ Gabumon's voice suddenly whispered in his ear and Yamato's eyes blinked in shock.

"Friendship? My strongest Virtue is Friendship?" Yamato whispered in disbelief and was rewarded with another laugh.

" **Yes. After all the loneliest souls smile the brightest."** The voice whispered just before Yamato's chest started to feel warm. He looked down to see a dark blue glow coming from his heart.

"This is…"

"… **Your Virtue responding to your need. You wished to save your friends, you wished to save your brother and you wished to save Gabumon. That is more than enough proof you walk the path of Virtue and not Sin."**  The voice explained as Yamato placed a hand over his heart.

" **Never forget though, my child. It's just as easy to fall down to that path if you allow it to happen. Envy comes just as easily and Friendship after all.** " She warned her voice suddenly sounding as sharp as knives. Yamato allowed the words to sink in before taking a deep breath.

"What now?"

" **Why are you asking me? You already know what to do.** " The voice chided but Yamato felt a small cross his lips.

Because she was right.

 **(** _Activate OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

Yamato stood with his eyes closed, his face expressionless. Suddenly his right hand shot up revealing his Digivice held between his two main fingers. Eyes the colour of ice snapped opened as the blonde tossed the device lightly in the air and then caught with his palm, making sure to keep it in the same position as before.

"Lock on!" He almost growled to himself as the Digivice flashed blue just for a couple of seconds before a beam the same colour shot out and struck Gabumon in the chest.

"Digivolution activate!" Yamato ordered and Gabumon released a loud roar as his form was surrounded by the blue glow.

Quickly Gabumon felt his body begin to change drastically, it stretched and pulled until he was forced to stand on four legs. His pelt seemed to grow before it covered him completely and fused with his body. Bright red claws burst out from his paws and crunched into the icy ground.

"Gabumon…Digivolve too…GARURUMON!" The icy mist seemed to float around the white and blue wolf before he released a loud roar that made the earth shake.

 **(** _End OST Digimon Adventure – Brave Heart_ **)**

"He Digivolved!" Patamon squeaked happily before the light even had a chance to clear away. Sure enough, Yamato stood with his Digivice gripped in his hand with Garurumon standing proudly in front of him.

"That's Garurumon, an Adult Beast Digimon! It possesses a furious combat instinct honed in freezing lands, as well as carnivore-like agility and the accuracy to reliably bring down its targets!" Tentamon happily supplied information to the group as Koushirou, Mimi and Joe joined Sora and Takeru closer to the fight.

"Are you alright Biyomon?" Palmon asked as the bird Digimon pushed herself to feet. Biyomon smiled before holding out her right wing showing it was already defrosting.

"I'm a firebird so ice can't keep me down for long!" Biyomon reassured them as Joe walked over to Taichi and helped him to his feet.

"You with us Taichi?" Joe asked as he looked at the boy's pale and soaked form. His eyes were barely open and were a dull brown from exhaustion.

"Joe-san…" Taichi mumbled as he was carefully lowered back down to the ground to where Sora was kneeling with Biyomon.

"Seadramon…you hurt my clutch siblings, my friends, and then you tried to hurt Yamato. I can no longer forgive you for this." Garurumon growled as he crouched down slightly to get a good jump in. Seadramon rumbled back mockingly before it began to charge up an attack.

" **WATER BREATH**!" Seadramon screeched as it fired off its bullet-like water attack but Garurumon simply jumped to the side. He did it again when another attack was fired and then jumped back to avoid a blast of ice.

"He's so fast!" Koushirou whispered in shock as Garurumon seemed to be a white blur every time he dodged an attack. Seadramon was getting more and more frustrated as Garurumon continued to taunt him silently.

" **ICE BLAST**!" Seadramon growled as he suddenly changed attacks. Garurumon jumped over the first blast before narrowing his eyes and diving into the water.

"Garurumon!" Yamato called out as his partner floated in the water his eyes still taunting the sea dragon Digimon. Seadramon hissed before firing another ice blast at the wolf.

"Dodge it Garurumon!" Yamato shouted desperately but the wolf ignored him allowing the ice to strike him. Inside of encasing them the beam simply covered his fur in ice and also froze the water in front of him. Garurumon chuckled before jumping onto the newly formed ice platform and shaking off the ice.

"What? Why didn't he become frozen?" Yamato demanded as he watched his partner stand firm against the sea dragon Digimon.

"That's because Garurumon's fur is rumoured to be as strong as steel! Something like Seadramon's ice blast stands no chance against it, Ishida-han!" Tentamon explained while waving his hands in front of him in excitement.

"You will pay for what you've done!" Garurumon growled before he started the familiar motion of allowing gas to gather at the back of his throat.

" **FOX FIRE**!" Garurumon roared before firing a huge wave of bright blue flames that smashed into Seadramon's helmet sending the Digimon flying backwards into the lake. It was quiet as Seadramon lifted himself up with a shake.

Garurumon growled as she stared straight into Seadramon's eyes, his warning being clearly stated without words. Seadramon curled his lip before releasing a furious screech of frustration and diving back under the lake, swimming away to recover his pride.

"He did it! Onii-chan!" Takeru happily shouted as the rest of the kids and Digimon cheered happily for Garurumon's success. Yamato looked at his little before smiling ever slightly and nodding in agreement.

Garurumon jumped back onto the small island before glowing dark blue and shrinking back down. When the light cleared away Gabumon was revealed looking tired but accomplished.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Yamato." Gabumon apologised as he walked a few steps to stand in front of the taller blonde. Yamato was silent for a couple of seconds before falling to his knees and pulling Gabumon into a tight hug.

"Just don't do it again." He ordered gruffly but Gabumon simply smiled and happily returned the hug. Joe sighed as he helped Taichi to his feet and walked over to the hugging pair.

"How are we going to get back across now? The bridge is completely destroyed." Joe lamented but Gomamon cut off his moping with a cheery laugh.

"I can help with that! I'll just make a new bridge to get us across, seeing as I'm pretty sure none of you wants to be on this island anymore."

"Got that right," Taichi muttered and Mimi nodded viciously in full agreement.

"I'll take the hard ground if it means we won't be attacked again." The girl admitted shakily causing Gomamon to laugh once again.

Using his aqua net attack Gomamon was able to form a stable bridge for the children and Digimon to cross over. The fire Taichi and Agumon had been using was relight at the children gathered around it to spend the night.

"It seems like we've found a weakness to this Digivolution," Koushirou spoke up as Tentamon snuggled close to his side sound asleep. Beside him, Sora nodded in agreement while petting Biyomon's head.

"If we get hurt while our Digimon are Digivolved they'll lose their power." Sora murmured causing Joe to sigh as he looked over to where Taichi and Agumon were sleeping.

"It also seems to leave said Digimon completely exhausted, putting both them and us in danger." Joe pointed out. Sora sighed before gasping Mimi suddenly fell against her with a sigh.

"I'm going to sleep here," Mimi mumbled even as Sora carefully lowered her to the ground, where the girl quickly curled up beside Palmon and went out cold.

"To fall asleep out here even though she complained so much about it, she must have gotten stronger during our day here." Sora laughed softly before she covered her yawn with her hand.

"Maybe she'll grow wings like me soon," Biyomon suggested and Sora chuckled as she lay down beside the bird Digimon.

"I'm pretty sure that's impossible for us…" She whispered before finally falling asleep, with Biyomon following her soon after.

Not long after Joe and Koushirou dozed off Taichi's eyes fluttered open as Yamato's harmonica sounded around their makeshift campsite. Pushing his still recovering body up Taichi walked closer towards the sound to where Yamato was sitting with Takeru and Gabumon leaning on either side of him slowly dozing off. Takeru was also holding Patamon tightly in his arms as he smiled in his sleep.

"I love you Onii-chan…" Takeru suddenly whispered and Taichi watched as Yamato paused slightly before continuing to play. Suddenly Yamato looked up catching sight of Taichi watching them beside the tree.

Their eyes locked before Taichi smirked and silently nodded his gratitude. Yamato simply closed his eyes once more but it was more than enough.

Still feeling tired Taichi returned back to the campsite to get some more rest, trusting Yamato to watch over them for the remainder of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Translations**  
>  - **Otōto** (弟, Little Brother) – _The term used for little or younger brother._  
>  - **Aniki** (お兄さん, Big Brother) - _The term used for someone's Big Brother. Can also be used by someone who has no relation to the other and is used to show how close they are._  
>  - **Okaa/Kaa** (母, {Respected} Mother) - _The term used for one's mother. The descriptive noun is haha(oya)._  
>  - **Otou/Tou** (父, {Respected} Father) – _The term used for one's father. The descriptive noun is chichi(oya)._  
>  - **Oyaji** (親父, Old Guy) – _A disrespectful way to call one's father._  
>  - **Onee/Nee** (姉, {Respected} Elder Sister) – _Term used for a respected older sister. The descriptive noun is ane._  
>  - **Onii/Nii** (兄弟, {Respected} Elder Brother) – _Term used for a respected older brother. The descriptive noun is ani._  
>  - **Senpai** (先輩, Upperclassman) – _Used for one's senior (colleague, fellow student) or more generally somebody in the same social class but superior to you (ex, 'Kunou-senpai')_  
>  **Ages**  
>  - **Daisuke Yagami** – Age 6/Grade 1 _(Odaiba Elementary School)_  
>  - **Hikari Yagami** – Age 8/Grade 3 _(Odaiba Elementary School)_  
>  \- **Takeru Takaishi** – Age 8/Grade 3 _(Kawada Elementary School)_  
>  - **Mimi Tachikawa** – Age 10/Grade 5 _(Kagurazaka Girls' Academy)_  
>  \- **Koushirou Izumi** – Age 10/Grade 6 _(Odaiba Elementary School)_  
>  \- **Taichi Yagami** – Age 11/Grade 6 _(Odaiba Elementary School)_  
>  \- **Yamato Ishida** – Age 11/Grade 6 _(Odaiba Elementary School)_  
>  - **Sora Takenouchi** \- Age 11/Grade 6 _(Odaiba Elementary School)_  
>  \- **Joe Kido** – Age 12/Grade 1 _(Odaiba Junior High School)_


End file.
